FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Arms Trade: Treaties

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to his international counterparts in support of ratification of the UN Arms Trade Treaty; what discussions he has had with the European Commission on ratification of that Treaty; when he expects the UK to ratify the Treaty; and when he expects the Treaty to come into force.

Hugh Robertson: The UK continues to maintain regular contact and dialogue about the next steps to ratify and implement the arms trade treaty with its international partners at both ministerial and official level. Officials have continued to engage the European Commission on the aspects of the treaty on which the EU has competence. We are planning for the UK to ratify the treaty in March 2014. The ATT will enter into force 90 days after the 50th ratification.

British Nationals Abroad

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department takes to offer financial support for the repatriation of a UK citizen's body if the citizen's relatives are in financial hardship.

Mark Simmonds: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not pay for the repatriation of a UK citizen's body. It does however provide partial funding to specialist external partners who can support bereaved families who have this need by, for example, working with insurers and repatriation partners, and by helping families find sources of funding. I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), on 25 April 2013, Official Report, column 1049W.

British Nationals Abroad

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many families have successfully claimed compensation from an overseas local authority following the death of a relative abroad in each of the last 10 years.

Mark Simmonds: Although the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and its specialist partners work closely with families to help them seek the compensation to which they are entitled, information on numbers of successful claims is not recorded in a way that can be easily searched. In the last financial year (April 2012 to March 2013) the FCO recorded 3,391 deaths that were not natural or suicides. To provide more information on which of the cases over the last 10 years then resulted in a successful compensation claim would therefore involve a disproportionate cost.

Egypt

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect of UK policy towards Egypt on Egyptian-Russian relations; and if he will make a statement.

Hugh Robertson: Egypt-Russian relations are a matter for their respective governments.

Equality

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many publications his Department has produced for the purposes of monitoring or promoting staff equality and diversity in each of the last five years; and what the cost of producing such publications was in each such year.

Hugh Robertson: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) publishes an annual Diversity and Equality Report which provides information about the diversity and makeup of our staff, as required by the Equality Act 2010. We also refer to equality and diversity in the FCO's Annual Report:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/annual-report-and-accounts
	Since the requirement to publish diversity and equality information was established the FCO has published two reports, in 2012 and 2013. These are online publications and therefore no additional printing costs are incurred. The 2014 FCO Diversity and Equality Report will be published shortly. Staff time for compiling each annual report is absorbed into the overall costs of the Diversity Team—for details of this team, I refer my hon. Friend to my response to his recent question, 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 54W.
	The reports are published at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-office/series/fco-diversity-and-equality-reports

Iraq

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  whether any UK Government Ministers or officials made any representations to the World Health Organisation or Iraqi Ministry of Health on their report into birth defects in Iraq prior to that report's publication;
	(2)  whether any UK Government Ministers or officials had discussions with their US counterparts on the joint World Health Organisation and Iraqi Ministry of Health report into birth defects in Iraq prior to its publication;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the methodology of the joint World Health Organisation and Iraqi Ministry of Health report into birth defects in Iraq.

Hugh Robertson: We made no representations to the World Health Organisation or Iraqi Ministry of Health prior to the 2013 report into birth defects in Iraq, and have made no representations to the United States Government on this matter. We have made no assessment on the methodology of the report.

Pakistan

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to his Pakistani counterpart on (a) that country's blasphemy laws and (b) the abolition of the death penalty in that country.

Hugh Robertson: We regularly raise the issue of the blasphemy laws at a senior level with the authorities in Pakistan. The Senior Minister of State, my noble Friend the right hon. Baroness Warsi, most recently raised our opposition to the death penalty with the Chief Minister of the Punjab on 27 January in the case of a British national convicted under Pakistan's blasphemy laws. On 12 February our high commissioner in Islamabad met the Governor of Punjab and raised the same case.
	It is our long-standing policy to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances. The Prime Minister reiterated this to the House during questions on 29 January. Ministers regularly raise the issue of the death penalty in Pakistan at the highest levels both in terms of our principled stance and in supporting cases of British nationals facing the death penalty overseas.

Qatar

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Qatari government expressing the UK's opposition to their funding of the Muslim Brotherhood; and if he will make a statement.

Hugh Robertson: We have regular discussions with the Qatar Government on a broad range of issues including both countries' policies towards political developments in the region, in particular on Egypt and Syria. The most recent being during my visit to Doha on 9 January.

Staff

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of staff recruited to his Department since 5 May 2010 identified their ethnicity as (a) white British and (b) from a minority ethnic background.

Hugh Robertson: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) publishes an annual Equality Report which provides information about the diversity and makeup of our staff, as required by the Equality Act 2010. We only report on declared data as disclosure of diversity information is voluntary.
	Reports were published in 2012 and 2013 and included information on the proportion of staff recruited in 2011 and 2012 that identified their ethnicity as (a) white and (b) from a BME background. The reports are published at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-office/series/fco-diversity-and-equality-reports
	The proportion of staff recruited to the FCO in 2013 who voluntary identified their ethnicity as (a) white was 71% and (b) minority ethnic background was 9%. This information will be published in our 2014 Equality Report.
	We could only collate the data for May to December 2010 at disproportionate cost. Since January 2011 we have improved the way in which we capture this data.

Syria

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what categories of people are allowed to leave Homs under the terms of the recent cease-fire agreement.

Hugh Robertson: Women, children (under the age of 15) and those over 55 were eligible to leave Homs under the original terms of the recent cease-fire. Following an initial evacuation of women and children, a UN-led aid convoy entered Horns and brought out a group of approximately 450 men, women and children. According to the UN, a total of 1,371 people (including 431 men-who were subsequently detained by the Syrian regime) left Homs during the ceasefire.

USA

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to improve US-UK trading relations since the beginning of 2014.

Hugh Robertson: The UK-US trade relationship continues to be strong; the US is the largest single destination for UK exports and our largest source of inward investment. UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) provides important support to UK companies looking to export to the US and US companies looking to invest in the UK. The UKTI network in the US has assisted 370 UK companies so far this calendar year. From April 2013 to end January 2014 UKTI in the US recorded 4,402 instances of assisting UK companies, 49% higher than the number assisted at this point in the previous year.
	The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), currently being negotiated between the EU and US, will provide significant benefits for the UK-US trade relationship, with the potential to add £10 billion per annum to the UK economy. We are actively engaged in promoting progress in the negotiations, both through contact with the European Commission and through our network of posts in the US. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), most recently raised TTIP during his visit to Washington in February, including with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Animal Experiments

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding her Department has provided to (a) research councils funding animal research and (b) development of non-animal experimentation methods in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: The Home Office has not funded research councils funding animal research in the last five years. The Home Office makes payments of £250,000 per annum to the National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research.
	The Coalition Government has made a commitment to ‘work to reduce the use of animals in scientific research'. The recently published Delivery Plan shows how alternative methods can deliver fast, high quality research available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-to-reduce-the-use-of-animals-in-research-delivery-plan
	The scientific case for developing new techniques that do not require the use of animals is as strong as the moral one. The Delivery Plan will cement the UK's place as an international leader in this field. A considerable part of the resource in the Home Office Animals in Science Regulation Unit is working towards the development of reduction, refinement and replacement alternatives (the 3Rs) to the use of animals in scientific procedures. Home Office Inspectors do this as part of their inspection role and when assessing applications for project licences. It is not possible to quantify the value of this resource, but it is significant.

Animal Experiments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment her Department made of the proposals submitted by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection during the preparation of Working to Reduce the Use of Animals in Scientific Research.

Norman Baker: The Home Office received proposals from various organisations, including from the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, during the preparation of the Government's delivery plan “Working to Reduce the Use of Animals in Scientific Research”. All material received was given full consideration during the preparation of the delivery plan.

Crime: Football

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to minimise the number of football match related crimes.

Damian Green: The Home Office works in partnership with police, the football authorities, other Government Departments and fans' groups to ensure there are appropriate powers available to minimise the threat of football-related disorder, to plan for safe and secure matches, and to encourage self-policing by supporters.
	The large majority of football supporters are law abiding individuals. Although levels of football disorder have been significantly reduced, and orchestrated football violence marginalised, the risk of spontaneous alcohol-fuelled incidents, especially at high-risk and high-tension matches, remains. A range of football-specific legislation complements public order legislation which enables police to prevent and respond to incidents of violence and disorder.
	Police football intelligence officers share information with one another, clubs and other authorities involved in the security and safety planning to minimise the risk of disorder.
	Football banning orders are the highly effective cornerstone of our preventative strategy, prohibiting those subject to an order from attending matches for between three and 10 years and addressing the individual offenders’ behaviour with additional conditions if necessary.
	There are currently 2,327 individuals subject to orders imposed in England and Wales. To prevent the spread of football disorder outside the United Kingdom banned individuals are required to surrender their passport to nominated police stations before relevant overseas international and club matches.
	The Home Office continues to make funding available to support local police operations gathering evidence and seeking football banning orders against persons who have been involved in football disorder.

Drugs: Smuggling

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what financial assistance her Department has provided to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for counter narcotics work in (a) Pakistan and (b) Afghanistan since 2010; and what future such assistance her Department plans to provide;
	(2)  what assistance is currently being given to help combat drug trafficking in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the form of (a) financial support, (b) operational support and (c) resource and information sharing;
	(3)  what plans she has to increase cooperation with Pakistan to combat drug trafficking following the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding;
	(4)  what steps the Government is taking to increase co-operation between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran to stop the increase in drug trafficking along their borders.

Theresa May: holding answer 24 February 2014
	The UK works closely with international organisations to tackle the drugs trade, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The Government has pledged approximately £4.5 million to UNODC projects in Afghanistan and approximately £5 million to UNODC projects in Pakistan since 2010. The UK encourages regional dialogue on tackling the narcotics trade. It does so by promoting the principle of shared responsibility and joint regional action through key multilateral forums including the UNODC Paris Pact, an initiative aimed at strengthening international and regional co-operation against opiates trafficking from Afghanistan.
	The UK provides bilateral assistance on counter-narcotics to a range of international partners in line with the UK's new Serious and Organised Crime Strategy. In Afghanistan our support includes mentoring the counter-narcotics criminal justice system and promoting agricultural development programmes, including in poppy-cultivating provinces. As set out in the Memorandum of Understanding signed in September 2013, we are committed to ongoing work with Pakistan with whom we have an established relationship on tackling counter-narcotics. However, it is important to protect specific activities which form part of the UK's contribution to the international counter-narcotics effort and to respect the principle that international partners are able to operate confidentially on matters which concern their national security. In line with our strategy to work internationally to combat organised crime, plans for increased co-operation with Pakistan include discussions on joint work relating to combating a wider range of organised crime threats.

Equality

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) total departmental expenditure, (b) number and (c) cost of people employed for the purpose of promoting equality and diversity was for each of the last five years.

Karen Bradley: The Department has statutory responsibilities set out in equality legislation, both as an employer and provider of services.
	In discharging these responsibilities, the Home Office spent the following:
	2012-13: £901,000, of which £674,000 were staff costs. The number of people employed specifically on equality and diversity—FTE 13.4.
	2011-12: £1,110,000, of which £865,000 were staff costs. The number of people employed specifically on equality and diversity—FTE 15.
	2010-11: £1,141,000, of which £909,000 were staff costs. The number of people employed specifically on equality and diversity—FTE 18.6.
	2009-10: £1,518,000, of which £1,026,000 were staff costs. The number of people employed specifically on equality and diversity—FTE 22.4.
	2008-09: £1,683,000, of which £1,071,000 were staff costs. The number of people employed specifically on equality and diversity—FTE 24.6.

Female Genital Mutilation

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she last met the Secretary of State for Education to discuss raising awareness of female genital mutilation in schools; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: On 6 February 2014, Ministers from across Government, including the Minister for Children and Families and I, met with charities and other interested parties to discuss progress being made in tackling female genital mutilation. We signed a cross-Government declaration announcing a range of measures to combat this harmful practice in the UK and internationally.

Foreign Workers

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what estimate her Department has made of the effect on (a) UK workers and (b) UK IT services companies of the ability of multinational companies to transfer employees into the UK and gain access to tax free business expenses;
	(2)  with reference to the recommendation in the report of the Migration Advisory Committee's Limits, on Migration, November 2010, that allowances used for PBS points purposes should be scaled back, what measures have been put in place to prevent any incentives to undercut domestic labour.

James Brokenshire: In reports published in 2009 and 2010, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) questioned whether the use of allowances, including tax-free expenses, for intra-company transfers creates the potential for under-cutting of UK workers.
	The MAC gave further consideration to the issue in its February 2012 report "Limit on Tier 2 (General)" for 2012-13 and associated policies. The Committee concluded:
	“On balance we believe that, while scope for using allowances for the purposes of undercutting does theoretically exist, it is generally the case that in practice such incentives would not exist because employing an intra-company transferee represents a significant cost to a UK employer.
	On this basis, down-rating allowances in calculating whether the income threshold for intra-company transfers would unfairly penalise those companies who do not abuse the intra-company transfer system. We do not recommend doing this.”
	The Government has accepted this recommendation.
	The Government has not attempted to estimate the effects of intra-company transfers and access to tax free business expenses on UK workers and UK IT services companies. However, there are provisions within tier 2 of the points-based system to prevent undercutting of the resident labour market. These include a requirement to pay appropriate rates for the job and guidance on the upper limits of the proportion of a tier 2 worker's salary package which can comprise allowances solely for the purposes of accommodation. The guidance also makes clear that the salary package taken into account for tier 2 purposes should not be inclusive of anticipated receipts of tax relief on business expenses.

Hunting

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of illegal taking of game have been recorded in the UK in each of the last three years.

Norman Baker: The Home Office does not hold this information centrally.
	The Home Office is responsible for police recorded crime statistics, consisting of indictable and triable-either-way offences. This does not include summary offences, such as taking of game.

Immigrants: Tuberculosis

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many positive cases of active pulmonary tuberculosis were prevented (a) indefinitely and (b) temporarily from entering the UK in 2013.

James Brokenshire: On 21 May 2012 the Government announced its intention to expand upon the existing pre-entry tuberculosis (TB) screening programme to allow for more extensive screening. Entry clearance applicants intending to come to the UK for over six months from countries where pre-entry screening is available are required to present a certificate from a designated screening provider confirming that screening has been conducted and that the applicant has been diagnosed as free from active pulmonary tuberculosis. Where tuberculosis is detected, the applicant will be required to undertake treatment and further screening before any entry clearance application can be made.
	As these applicants have to present a certificate stating that they are clear of active TB, entry clearance staff do not see applications from applicants with active TB. For all other entry clearance applications, the entry clearance officer has powers to refer any applicant for medical screening. We do not maintain a record of the number of individuals who have been refused entry clearance on the basis of having active pulmonary tuberculosis.

Immigration Controls

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the oral evidence taken by the Public Accounts Committee on 28 March 2011, HC 913-i, whether the Immigration Case Work system is now in place.

James Brokenshire: The Immigration Casework programme has successfully delivered a fully digital end-to-end visa process for in-country students, and a powerful search function which allows caseworkers across the world to view details from across 14 current systems, which greatly aids accurate and timely decision making. The programme has now closed. The Secretary of State for the Home Department has commissioned a new plan for taking forward the modernisation of IT across the whole immigration system.

Interpol

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who will represent the UK at the Interpol General Assembly in November 2014.

Karen Bradley: holding answer 26 February 2014
	The Head of Border Policing Command and the Head of the UK International Crime Bureau, both in the National Crime Agency, will be representing the UK at the 83rd Interpol General Assembly in November 2014.

Maternity Leave

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what proportion of civil servants in her Department who had been on maternity leave were still employed in the Civil Service (a) six and (b) 12 months after their return to work in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what proportion of civil servants in her Department who were on maternity leave in each of the last five years returned to work;
	(3)  what the standard level and duration is of contractual maternity pay paid to civil servants in her Department.

Karen Bradley: The Home Office makes up the difference between statutory maternity pay and normal contractual rate of pay for the first 26 weeks of maternity leave period, providing expectant mothers:
	have completed a minimum of 12 months' qualifying service with the Department during the 24 months up to and including the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth; and
	meet all the qualifying conditions for statutory maternity pay.
	We are unable to provide answers to the proportion of staff returning to and remaining with the Home Department or the wider civil service following a period of maternity leave as it would incur a disproportionate cost to determine this information.

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will arrange for the hon. Member for Walsall North to receive a reply to his letter to the interim director general, UK Visas and Immigration of 8 January 2014 on behalf of a constituent, CTS ref M294/14.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 24 February 2014
	A reply was despatched to the hon. Member’s letter, CTS ref M294/14, on 14 February 2014.

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will arrange for the Member of Walsall North to receive a reply to his letter to the interim director general, UK Visas and Immigration of 24 January 2014 on behalf of a constituent; CTS ref M1157/14.

James Brokenshire: The director general replied to the hon. Gentleman on 25 February 2014.

Motorcycles

Gavin Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to prevent motorcyclists from riding across (a) public areas, (b) community parks and (c) areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Damian Green: The police have the power under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 to seize vehicles, including motorcycles, which they have reasonable grounds to believe are being, or have been used, both in a careless and inconsiderate manner on road or off-road without consent, contrary to the Road Traffic Act 1988, and in a way which causes or is likely to cause alarm, distress or annoyance to members of the public.

Offences Against Children

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with Ministers of the Department for Education regarding children subject to sexual exploitation.

Norman Baker: holding answer 26 February 2014
	The Home Office and the Department for Education are in ongoing contact regarding children subject to sexual exploitation and related issues at a range of levels. For example, the Department for Education is represented on the National Group for Sexual Violence Against Children and Vulnerable People.

Police: Ethnic Groups

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many black and ethnic minority officers are currently employed in the police service in England, Wales and Scotland;
	(2)  how many black and ethnic minority officers are currently employed in the police service in England, Wales and Scotland at chief police officer level; in which forces they are located; and what is the total number of chief police officer posts in the service;
	(3)  how many black and ethnic minority officers are employed at chief superintendent level in the police service in England, Wales and Scotland; and what is the total number of chief superintendent posts in the service;
	(4)  how many black and ethnic minority officers are employed at superintendent level in the police service in England, Wales and Scotland; and what is the total number of superintendent posts in the service;
	(5)  how many black and ethnic minority officers are employed at chief inspector level in the police service in England, Wales and Scotland; and what is the total number of chief inspector posts in the service.

Damian Green: The requested data for England and Wales are provided within the tables and relates to the number of officers in post on 31 March 2013 (most recent data with breakdowns of ethnic groupings).
	The provided figures are published in the 'Police Workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2013' statistical bulletin, which can be accessed using the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2013
	Figures for Scotland are a matter for the devolved Administration.
	
		
			 Number of black and minority ethnic full-time equivalent1 members of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in England and Wales, by police force area, as at 31 March 2013 
			  Black and Minority Ethnic 
			 Avon and Somerset 0 
			 Bedfordshire 0 
			 Cambridgeshire 0 
			 Cheshire 0 
			 Cleveland 0 
			 Cumbria 0 
			 Derbyshire 0 
			 Devon and Cornwall 0 
			 Dorset 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Durham 0 
			 Essex 0 
			 Gloucestershire 0 
			 Greater Manchester 0 
			 Hampshire 0 
			 Hertfordshire 0 
			 Humberside 0 
			 Kent 0 
			 Lancashire 0 
			 Leicestershire 1 
			 Lincolnshire 0 
			 London, City of 0 
			 Merseyside 0 
			 Metropolitan Police 3 
			 Norfolk 0 
			 Northamptonshire 0 
			 Northumbria 0 
			 North Yorkshire 0 
			 Nottinghamshire 0 
			 South Yorkshire 1 
			 Staffordshire 0 
			 Suffolk 0 
			 Surrey 0 
			 Sussex 0 
			 Thames Valley 0 
			 Warwickshire 0 
			 West Mercia 0 
			 West Midlands 0 
			 West Yorkshire 1 
			 Wiltshire 0 
			 Total England 6 
			   
			 Dyfed-Powys 0 
			 Gwent 0 
			 North Wales 0 
			 South Wales 0 
			 Total Wales 0 
			 1 This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been presented to the nearest whole number. Because of this, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. 
		
	
	
		
			 Number of full-time equivalent1 Chief Inspectors, Superintendents, Chief Superintendents and members of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in England, as at 31 March 2013 
			  Chief Inspector Superintendent Chief Superintendent ACPO All police officer ranks 
			 Number of police officers 1,702 770 345 187 122,751 
			 Of which:      
			 are Black and Minority Ethnic 71 33 10 6 6,436 
			 1 This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been presented to the nearest whole number. 
		
	
	
		
			 Number of full-time equivalent1 Chief Inspectors, Superintendents, Chief Superintendents and members of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in Wales, as at 31 March 2013 
			  Chief Inspector Superintendent Chief Superintendent ACPO All police officer ranks 
			 Number of police officers 99 49 21 14 6,833 
			 Of which:      
			 are Black and Minority Ethnic 1 0 0 0 101 
			 1 This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been presented to the nearest whole number.

Public Houses: Opening Hours

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence her Department collected before the announcement of a consultation on extended pub opening hours on 14 June 2014.

Norman Baker: holding answer 10 February 2014
	The Home Office consulted a number of key partners, including the Police, local authorities and licensing officers before reaching an initial view.
	The Home Office will shortly consult on whether or not to use the powers under section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003 which allows the national relaxation of licensing hours for occasion of "exceptional international or local significance".

Re-employment

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to her answer of 3 February 2014, Official Report, column 35W, on re-employment, how much was paid to the staff referred to as part of their retirement package.

Karen Bradley: holding answer 24 February 2014
	As at December 2013 the Home Office paid a total of £871,077 to the re-employed staff referred to in the previous reply as part of their retirement package.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Equality

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many publications her Department has produced for the purposes of monitoring or promoting staff equality and diversity in each of the last five years; and what the cost of producing such publications was in each such year.

Theresa Villiers: As a small organisation with less than 150 employees, the Northern Ireland Office is exempt from publishing information and equality objectives as required by the Equality Act 2010. However, the NIO is obliged under section 75 and schedule 9 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to publish an Equality Scheme and annual progress report. These publications are produced at nil costs and can be found on the NIO's website
	www.nio.gov.uk
	My Department also provided contributions to Cabinet Office on any equality or diversity surveys which they carried out during this period. Again, there was no cost associated with publication of any of this material.

Fisheries: Weather

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 
	(1)  what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the current weather conditions on fishermen in Northern Ireland;
	(2)  what recent discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the difficulties caused to fishermen by current weather conditions.

Theresa Villiers: I have great sympathy with fishermen in Northern Ireland who have been so adversely affected by the recent extreme weather. However, responsibility for sea fisheries is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development whom I understand is seeking support from her Executive colleagues for a £400,000 aid package for fishermen affected by the weather.

Television: Advertising

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport about updating the regulations governing Channel 3 licence holders in Northern Ireland to take account of online advertising; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: I have not had any discussions with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Maria Miller), on this matter.
	However, I understand that the regulator, Ofcom, has recently renewed the Channel 3 licences for 10 years effective from 1 January 2015, including in Northern Ireland. Ofcom advises that its Cross-Promotions Code enables television broadcasters to promote other broadcasting related services without such promotions being considered advertising. However, the code's provisions relate to the promotion of other broadcasting related services and do not extend to online services unrelated to broadcasting. As in other areas, Ofcom decides whether there is a need to review and make changes to the codes and guidance on the basis of evidence that change is needed to the existing rules. Although Ofcom has no existing commitments to review the code, it will continue to monitor its effectiveness and assess whether change is necessary in the future.

Trade Promotion

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in how many trade missions involving Invest NI have Ministers in her Department been participants since May 2010.

Theresa Villiers: Most aspects of trade are a devolved responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive Minister of Enterprise, Trade, and Investment, but Ministers in my Department and DETI have always worked closely to promote Northern Ireland as an excellent place to do business.
	From time to time the DETI Minister Ariene Foster MLA has invited Northern Ireland Office Ministers to accompany her on trade missions. My right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), when Minister of State in my Department, was invited by Minister Foster to support a trade mission to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman in February 2012 which promoted the Northern Ireland Aerospace industry.
	Ariene Foster has also invited me to join her on a trade mission later in the year promoting the best of Northern Ireland food and produce at SIAL 2014 in Paris.

WALES

Asbestos: Children

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales 
	(1)  which Government Department has overall responsibility for ensuring that safe standards are achieved in protecting school children in Wales from the dangers of asbestos in (a) local authority schools and (b) schools outside local authority control;
	(2)  which Government Department is responsible for the (a) health and (b) safety in relation to asbestos of children attending schools in Wales;
	(3)  which Government Department is responsible for the (a) health and (b) safety in relation to asbestos of children in Wales when they are not at school;
	(4)  which Government Department has the overall responsibility for issuing guidance to schools in Wales on (a) the risks to children from asbestos and (b) the management of asbestos in schools;
	(5)  which Government Department has the overall responsibility for issuing guidance to the general public on (a) the risks to children from asbestos and (b) the management of asbestos in homes in Wales;
	(6)  which Government Department has the overall responsibility for advising the Welsh Government on (a) the risks to children from asbestos in schools and (b) the measures that should be taken to control those risks in Wales;
	(7)  which Government Department has the overall responsibility for ensuring that safe standards are achieved in protecting children in Wales at home from the dangers of asbestos.

David Jones: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has responsibility for enforcing legislation on the management and control of asbestos in all workplaces in Great Britain, including schools. The statutory responsibility for ensuring that risks from asbestos are managed, however, falls to the duty holder and to any employer undertaking work on asbestos containing materials in those premises. For schools this depends on its status and could be the local authority, the Board of Governors, the trustees or a proprietor.
	The HSE produces general guidance on the management of asbestos and the precautions that need to be taken before work is undertaken on any property where asbestos is present.
	It is for the Welsh Government to decide if it wishes to introduce overall policies for dealing with asbestos management across maintained schools in Wales.

Equality

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many publications his Department has produced for the purposes of monitoring or promoting staff equality and diversity in each of the last five years; and what the cost of producing such publications was in each such year.

Stephen Crabb: The Ministry of Justice provides employment services to the Wales Office, including monitoring and promoting equality and diversity. Information relating to the make-up of our workforce is included in the Wales Office Annual Report and Accounts. Equality and diversity is promoted within the Department through the Ministry of Justice intranet and direct communication with our staff, as such, the Wales Office produces no such publications in its own right.

SCOTLAND

Equality

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many publications his Department has produced for the purposes of monitoring or promoting staff equality and diversity in each of the last five years; and what the cost of producing such publications was in each such year.

David Mundell: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave on 25 February 2014, Official Report, column 282W.

Ministers' Private Offices

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the size, in square metres, of the offices assigned to each of his Department's Ministers is; and how many officials, at what grade, work in the private offices of each of his Department's Ministers.

David Mundell: The room in Dover House assigned to the Secretary of State is 83 square metres, and the room assigned to me is 51 square metres. Both rooms are also used for other purposes such as events and hospitality to promote Scotland and Scottish interests in London.
	The Scotland Office private office is headed by a Principal Private Secretary at SCS 1. The Secretary of State also has one grade 7, one SEO, and three EOs in his private office. In line with the practice of previous Administrations, exact numbers are not usually disclosed to protect individual privacy when the numbers are five or fewer. I have five or fewer officials working directly for me in my private office.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Bellwin Scheme

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of additional money promised to local authorities through the Bellwin Scheme will be (a) from his Department's budget, (b) directly from HM Treasury, (c) through a transfer from HM Treasury to the Department for Communities and Local Government and (d) from another budget.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 24 February 2014
	As part of its contingency planning, the Department already has a yearly allocation for Bellwin funding. Any additional costs outside this initial allocation will be funded from departmental under-spends. The bottom line is that local government will receive additional funding to help with floods recovery.
	Notwithstanding, given councils have until the end of June to submit applications for their Bellwin funding, and given it is a demand-led scheme based on councils retrospectively reclaiming their exceptional costs it is not feasible at this point in time to publish detailed figures on precise funding allocations.

Council Tax

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many liability orders for council tax payment have been granted by the courts in the last six months.

Brandon Lewis: The Department does not collect this data.

Council Tax Benefits

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  if he will make it his policy to collect data on the number of (a) people in work, (b) carers, (c) disabled people, (d) war widows and (e) veterans who have seen an increase in their council tax bill following changes to the payment of council tax benefit;
	(2)  what data he (a) is currently collecting and (b) plans to collect on the number of (i) households and (ii) people paying council tax for the first time or seeing an increase in their council tax bill as a result of the changes in council tax benefit who have received a visit from a bailiff over non-payment of council tax;
	(3)  if he will assess the effect of (a) changes to and (b) localisation of council tax benefit over the next 12 months;
	(4)  whether he has asked any local authority for (a) an assessment of and (b) data on the effect of the changes in and the localisation of council tax benefit; and if he will place in the Library copies of any information so provided;
	(5)  what data his Department (a) collects and (b) plans to collect on the number of households and individuals (i) that are paying council tax for the first time or whose council tax bill has increased as a result of recent changes to council tax benefit and (iii) who have been summonsed to court for non-payment of council tax since those changes took effect.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 10 February 2014
	The Department is collecting information about the number of pensioners and working age claimants, the amount of council tax local authorities have forgone and the impact council tax support schemes are having on the council tax base.
	Experimental statistics covering the number of claimants and the amount of council tax forgone are available from the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing-england-2013-to-2014-individual-local-authority-data
	The Council Tax Base statistics release includes details of the impact of council tax support schemes on the council tax base, and is available from the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-taxbase-2013-in-england
	The Department does not collect data about individual claimants and has no plans to do so. These are local schemes, and it is for local authorities to ensure that the effect on specific groups of council tax payers is proportionate and fair. We made a £100 million transition grant available in 2013-14 to help councils develop well-designed schemes and maintain incentives to work.
	An independent review of the policy will be carried out within three years. We are working with local authorities to identify the right data sources for that review.
	Spending on council tax benefit doubled under the last Government, costing taxpayers £4 billion a year—equivalent to almost £180 a year per household. Welfare reform is vital to tackle the budget deficit left by the last Administration.
	Our reforms to localise council tax support now give councils stronger incentives to support local firms, cut fraud, promote local enterprise and get people into work. We are ending the last Administration's 'something for nothing' culture and making work pay.

Council Tax: Plymouth

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people in Plymouth who receive welfare and disability benefits are liable to pay council tax.

Brandon Lewis: The Department does not collect this data. Council tax support is set locally, and it is for local authorities to ensure that the effect on specific groups of council tax payers is proportionate and fair. We made a £100 million transition grant available in 2013-14 to help councils develop well-designed schemes and maintain incentives to work.

Floods: Insurance

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to monitor the responses of insurance companies to the needs of people made homeless as a result of their homes being flooded in the recent severe weather; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: Ministers met with senior representatives from the insurance industry earlier this month to discuss their plans to ensure flood-related claims are paid rapidly, and support government plans to help home owners make their homes more resilient. It was agreed that there would be monthly meetings between the Government and the insurance executives to make sure everything possible was being done to provide prompt and full payment to customers, and to ensure that government and the industry were fully co-ordinated in helping flood victims.

Fracking

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 10 February 2014, Official Report, column 418W, on fracking, what estimate he has made of how many local authorities would be willing to host a shale gas site if permitted to retain (a) 100 and (b) 50 per cent of business rates from shale gas production.

Brandon Lewis: There will be a direct financial incentive for local government from hosting shale gas production sites from retaining all of the business rates paid. It is too early to say how many authorities will benefit from this measure as this will depend upon a range of factors including the location and extent of the shale gas.

Hatfield

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when Sir Bob Kerslake approved the process by which Hatfield would be considered as a Town Team; and if he will place a copy of the approval in the Library.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 10 February 2014
	The Town Team applications were assessed through a process consistent with “Managing Public Money” and the “Consolidated Budgeting Guidance”. In this instance, as Sir Bob Kerslake set out in a letter to the right hon. Member on 10 December 2012, given that the Hatfield Town Team was based in the constituency of the Minister without Portfolio, my right hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps), in line with the Ministerial code, the decision on Hatfield's bid to become a Portas Pilot was made by a different Minister.
	It is very disappointing that the right hon. Member continually wishes to knock and snipe at the Hatfield Town Team. It was a very deserving bid and it has gone from strength to strength since its award.
	I understand that the Portas Pilot win was a catalyst for increasing participation in arts and culture in the town, and helped secure additional funding from the Arts Council and the Royal Opera House Bridge to support arts and cultural activities in the town.
	They have replaced their market stalls with new ones for their weekly and farmers markets, and also now use them as marquees for various initiative and events.
	They have created a town shop as the Hatfield Hub, helping them become runner-up in the Association of Town Centre Management's Town Team Review of the Year. The Town Team is focusing now on increasing footfall into the town by supporting local businesses in terms of business advice, mentoring and training.
	They are also working on a better signage project as a result of the Portas Pilot, and have a bus map project working with Herefordshire University's Centre for Sustainable Communities.
	They also have a new town website at as a result of winning, which further outlines their continuing good work:
	www.hatfieldtown.co.uk

Homelessness

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of trends in the level of statutory homelessness in (a) the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, (b) Birkenhead constituency and (c) the United Kingdom since April 2013; and what assessment he has made of the causes of those trends.

Kris Hopkins: The Department does not collect data at constituency level. The closest available figures are those for the metropolitan borough of Wirral, which includes the Birkenhead constituency as well as others. Data for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not collected by the Department and are a matter for the relevant devolved Administrations.
	The following table shows the reported number of homelessness acceptances in the last two quarters for England and the Wirral.
	
		
			  Acceptances 
			 Period England Wirral 
			 April-June 2013 13,460 35 
			 July-September 2013 13,330 34 
		
	
	To make robust like-for-like comparisons between numbers of homelessness acceptances in adjacent quarters, it is necessary to adjust for seasonal effects. The Department's statisticians routinely make such adjustments to the England totals. On an adjusted basis, the number of homelessness acceptances in England decreased by 4% between April-June and July-September 2003 (from 13,520 to 13,010).
	Homelessness acceptances remain lower than in 27 of the last 30 years, and homelessness is around half the average level it was under the last Administration.
	The pressures on homelessness were caused by the recession and housing crash that occurred under the last Administration. As outlined by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his autumn statement, the coalition Government has taken decisive action to pay off the unsustainable budget deficit, to keep interest rates down, to build more homes, to reform welfare to make work pay and to deliver long-term economic growth.
	This Government has retained a strong homelessness safety net protected in law, supported by £470 million in the current spending review period to prevent and tackle homelessness, rough sleeping and repossessions.
	We have also made some common sense changes to the rules under the Localism Act to enable local authorities to help households move more quickly into a settled home. This means households will no longer need to be placed in temporary accommodation while they wait for social housing to become available.

Housing Bond Guarantee Scheme

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many bids his Department has received to manage the (a) affordable rent and (b) private renting component of the Housing Bond Guarantee Scheme;
	(2)  how many bids for funding the Government has received for the private renting component of the Housing Bond Guarantee Scheme.

Kris Hopkins: I cannot publish commercially confidential information that would undermine the ability of the Government to negotiate the best deals for the taxpayer. However, I would note:
	Affordable Housing Finance Plc was awarded the licence for the Affordable Housing Guarantee Scheme on 20 June 2013. The first eight housing associations to be awarded funding were announced on 7 January 2014, receiving £400 million of finance to facilitate the delivery of up to 4,000 new affordable homes. We also announced a further European Investment Bank loan facility worth £500 million. More schemes will follow.
	In relation to the Private Rented Sector Guarantee, we are currently in direct commercial negotiations with a number of borrowers with large enough projects to raise their own finance. The Private Rented Sector Taskforce is supporting this, and the separate Build to Rent fund, by engaging with the market and encouraging key players to invest to kick-start the new private rented sector. I will make further announcements on guarantees in due course once negotiations and contracts are concluded.
	In addition, the Built to Rent fund, which provides development phase finance, has received £1.4 billion of bids under Round One, and projects are proceeding through the due diligence process. The first two contracts in Southampton (Centenary Quay) and Manchester (Three Towers) have been exchanged, with more to follow. Under Round Two, we have received bids worth £2.8 billion which are currently being assessed for shortlisting. Again, I will make further announcements in due course.

Housing: Construction

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many homes have been completed under the Get Britain Building scheme;
	(2)  how many affordable homes have been completed under the Get Britain Building scheme;
	(3)  how many jobs the Get Britain Building scheme has created.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 3 February 2014
	The Get Britain Building programme was set up to unlock homes on stalled sites with planning permission through access to development finance. The scheme is on track and on course to deliver on its targets.
	As of September 2013, there were 11,165 housing starts under the programme (of which 811 were affordable housing) so far, and 715 housing completions so far (of which 47 were affordable housing). Other projects are under contract, there will be more starts in due course and all the homes are due to be completed by 2015.
	The starts on site reported for 2012-13 exclude a further 522 affordable units which will count towards the overall target, but which are also in receipt of funding from an affordable housing programme and thus are reported under that programme to prevent double-counting. This takes the starts to 1,333 affordable homes so far.
	In addition, there may be sales which are made available at below market price or rents but which do not meet the definition for affordable housing. The completions may also include houses that are subsequently sold to purchasers through the Help to Buy scheme.
	That said, a sense of pragmatism is needed on affordable housing requirements. Unrealistic Section 106 agreements signed during the housing boom before the housing bust have been one of the key reasons for stalled sites, resulting in no development, no housing, no regeneration and no community benefits.
	We do not centrally hold data on the number of jobs created by the programme. However, we estimate that the construction of each new home supports is one to two jobs.
	This is part of a wider set of initiatives to help kick-start stalled sites, as outlined in the answer of 7 November 2013, Official Report, column 345-47W. Figures from Glenigan show the overall number of stalled sites is consistently falling, as explained in the answer of 24 January 2014, Official Report, column 330W.

Planning Permission

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will extend the deadline for local authorities to finalise and submit their local neighbourhood plans including provision for a five-year supply of sites for housing under the National Planning Policy Framework.

Nicholas Boles: The National Planning Policy Framework has been in full force from the day it was published, on 27 March 2012, and included an initial implementation period that ended on 26 March 2013. The specific transitional arrangements applied only in a very small number of tightly defined cases—where councils had post-2004 plans, and there was only a limited degree of conflict between those policies and the Framework. This was to allow these areas, whose plans were expected to already be broadly compliant with policies in the Framework, an opportunity to check and update their policies where necessary.
	For all other councils, the transitional period was not relevant. The end of the transitional arrangements should not have a dramatic effect on decision-making, and we have no plans to extend it. To help those councils who have not yet completed their plans, or do not have a five year supply of sites for housing, the Government continues to fund the Planning Inspectorate and the Planning Advisory Service to provide assistance. Between them, they have visited over 200 councils in the last year to provide help with getting a good quality plan in place.

Planning Permission: Rushden Lakes

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects to announce the decision on the Rushden Lakes planning application.

Nicholas Boles: holding answer 24 February 2014
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) today, PQ 188242.

Planning Permission: Rushden Lakes

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what date he plans to make a decision on the planning application relating to Rushden Lakes and Skew Bridge, deferred by him on 11 February 2014.

Nicholas Boles: holding answer 24 February 2014
	The case is under active consideration and a decision will be issued as soon as practicable.

Property Development: Floods

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to his statement of 10 February 2014, Official Report, column 574, on flooding, what definition of areas at high risk of flooding is used to record building in such areas; what the nature is of the objections to developments included in the figure of 99.3 per cent; and what locations of the developments objected to was.

Nicholas Boles: holding answer 24 February 2014
	The definition derives from the Department's Land Use Change Statistics. The areas of high flood risk cover approximately 10% of England. They reflect the river and coastal floodplains and provide indicative flood risk areas. They are areas estimated to be at risk of at least a one in one hundred chance of flooding each year from a river or at least a one in two hundred chance of flooding from the sea. The boundaries are approximate and do not take into account any flood defences.
	Other than for minor development (such as house extensions and garden sheds), the Environment Agency must be consulted by local planning authorities in a number of instances including where the proposed development is within Flood Zones 2 or 3. When responding, the Environment Agency will advise on the flood risk and may object for a number of reasons including, for example, where the planning application initially provides insufficient information about flooding or, in the case of a sustained objection, where there is an unresolved concern about the flood risk. We do not centrally hold detailed information on the individual planning applications.

Right to Buy Scheme

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment he has made of the effect of preserved right-to-buy sales on rental incomes for housing associations which were part of large-scale voluntary transfer schemes.

Kris Hopkins: Stock transfer is a means to fund needed capital investment whilst keeping rents within Government policy for social housing, thereby reducing the call on housing benefit. It assists regeneration and new build developments, providing community benefits.
	Stock transfer agreements are private commercial contracts between local authorities and housing associations. Estimated rental incomes are reflected in the transfer price agreed between the local authority and the housing association. Furthermore, the receipt from the transfer is used to pay down some of the transfer council's housing debt, effectively decreasing public sector debt.
	The impact of the re-invigorated Right to Buy on Preserved Right to Buy sales should be manageable for housing associations. Our view is that receipts from Preserved Right to Buy sales should be used to help fund new homes for affordable rent and we would encourage housing associations to work in partnership with local authorities to do so.

Temporary Accommodation

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households categorised as homeless have been housed in temporary accommodation for more than six weeks in each of the last five years.

Kris Hopkins: The Department collects figures from local authorities for households in temporary accommodation for more than six weeks only for families and 16 or 17 year-olds in bed-and-breakfast accommodation.
	The following table provides snapshot figures for England as at 30 September over the last decade.
	
		
			  Household with dependent children in B&B1 over six weeks 16 to 17-year-old applicant in B&B1 over six weeks2 
			 30 September   
			 2003 1,590 — 
			 2004 180 — 
			 2005 150 — 
			 2006 120 — 
			 2007 130 300 
			 2008 160 150 
			 2009 130 100 
			 2010 140 80 
			 2011 310 50 
			 2012 880 50 
			 2013 790 20 
			 1 Including shared facilities. 2 Data on 16 to 17-year-olds in B&B over six weeks was not recorded until Q4 2006. 
		
	
	This Government has retained a strong homelessness safety net protected in law, supported by £470 million in the current spending review period to prevent and tackle homelessness, rough sleeping and repossessions. We are seeing this investment making an impact with homeless families now spending seven months less in temporary accommodation than at the start of 2010.We have also made some changes to the rules under the Localism Act to enable local authorities to help households move more quickly into a settled home. This means households are likely to spend less time in temporary accommodation waiting for social housing to become available. The law is clear that families with children must only be placed in bed-and-breakfast accommodation as a last resort and then for no more than six weeks.
	We are continuing to support local authorities to raise their game and have provided £2 million for seven councils struggling with increasing bed and breakfast use so that they can reduce numbers and develop long lasting solutions to this problem. The latest statistics show that, with the help of this funding, Westminster and Croydon councils have vastly reduced the number of families with children in bed and breakfast beyond six weeks. We publish performance data and have also provided £1.9 million for local authorities to take a Gold Standard approach to help them design and deliver more efficient and cost-effective housing solutions for vulnerable people.

TREASURY

Beer: Imports

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2014, Official Report, column 307W, on beer: excise duties, what proportion of beer sold in the UK is imported.

Nicky Morgan: No official statistics are available on the proportion of beer sold in the UK which is imported.
	HM Revenue and Customs compiles trade statistics on alcohol production, clearances and revenue which are publicly available at:
	www.uktradeinfo.com
	These statistics indicate 13 million hectolitres of beer were released to the UK market from excise warehouses and imports in 2012-13. However, it is not possible to say whether beer released from warehouse originated from outside the UK.

Child Benefit

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his plans are for the future of child benefit.

David Gauke: Child benefit provides financial support to help families with the costs of raising children.

Children: Day Care

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of tax free child care national insurance contributions' relief available for workplace nurseries.

Nicky Morgan: The introduction of tax-free child care will have no effect on the national insurance contributions' relief available for workplace nurseries.

Children: Day Care

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings (a) he, (b) other Ministers of his Department and (c) officials of his Department have had with outside organisations on tax-free childcare since the closure of his Department's consultation on that issue; and which organisations were involved.

Nicky Morgan: Treasury Ministers and officials receive representations from and meet with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such representations and meetings.

Consultants

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent on external consultants and advisers by (a) his Department and (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii) executive agency for which his Department is responsible in each of the last four years for which figures are available.

Nicky Morgan: Information relating to spend on external consultants and advisers for the Department, each of its non-departmental bodies and executive agencies for which the Department is responsible is published information.
	This information is published on the Department's website. Please refer to the Resource Accounts, Note 7, Other administration costs and Note 8, Other programme costs for further details. Links to each of the year's accounts within this request have been provided as follows:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-annual-report
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/247998/0261.pdf
	In the accounts Core Treasury comprises the non-agency parts of HM Treasury.

Councillors: Allowances

Therese Coffey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on (a) what date and (b) what basis the deemed workplace of a councillor was changed to that of the principal local authority for the purposes of HM Revenue and Customs' taxation of mileage.

David Gauke: There has been no change to the rules governing the tax treatment of local councillors' travel expenses or mileage allowances.

Economic and Monetary Union

Graham Stringer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the ruling by the German Constitutional Court on outright monetary transaction on (a) the stability of the euro and (b) the constitutional arrangements of the EU institutions; and if he will make a statement.

Nicky Morgan: The German Constitutional Court has referred to the European Court of Justice the question of whether the ECB's Outright Monetary Transactions programme is compatible with the primary law of the European Union. Member states, including the UK and German Governments, have the right to submit observations on cases referred to the European Court and in the usual way we will be considering whether this would be appropriate in this case.
	HM Treasury monitors developments in the euro area on an ongoing basis as part of the normal process of policy development. While the UK recovery now has real momentum, international risks remain—including those arising from fragilities in the euro area, one of our major trading partners.

Excise Duties: Alcoholic Drinks

Neil Parish: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much and what proportion of the cost of an average bottle alcohol excise duty has increased between (a) 1997 and 2010 and (b) 2010 and the present day; and if he will make a statement.

Nicky Morgan: HMRC's ‘Alcohol Factsheet October 2013' provides a range of data on alcohol, including the proportion of the average price of a drink that comprises of tax. This can be found here:
	https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/Pages/TaxAndDutyBulletins.aspx

Excise Duties: Alcoholic Drinks

Neil Parish: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the report produced for the Wine and Spirit Trade Association entitled Economic Impact Assessment into the Wine and Spirit Industry in the UK and its conclusion on the effect of the alcohol duty escalator on the wider economy.

Nicky Morgan: HM Treasury are considering the report produced for the Wine and Spirits Trade Association alongside all other Budget representations, HM Treasury keeps all taxes, including alcohol duties, under review.
	The Government has taken recent action that will help the alcohol industry. A major business rates package was announced at autumn statement 5 December 2013, Official Report, columns 1101-1113, that will help ease the tax burden on business. The Government will also abolish employer national insurance contributions for under-21s earning below £813 per week from April 2015.

Excise Duties: Tobacco

Grahame Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answers of 6 September 2013, Official Report, column 579W and 16 December 2013, Official Report, column 429W, on excise duties: tobacco, what his policy is on imposing restrictions on the personal imports of cigarettes by travellers from certain EU member states, as provided for by Article 4 of Council Decision 2010/12/EU.

Nicky Morgan: The Government's policy is to apply quantitative restrictions on personal importations of tobacco products from other member states whose excise duty rates are below the permitted EU minima. The UK can only do this where a member state has declared their current duty rates. The Government is awaiting formal confirmation by the EU Commission of the declared excise duty rates on cigarettes in member states applicable from 1 January 2014. It would be inappropriate for the UK to implement quantitative restrictions on imports from any member state until it is confirmed that their excise duty rates are below the permitted EU minima.

High Net Worth Unit

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people are employed by HM Revenue and Customs in the High Net Worth Unit.

David Gauke: The High Net Worth Unit (HNWU) in HMRC deals with the personal tax affairs of 5,000 of the UK's wealthiest individuals. This allows HNWU to tailor service delivery for these customers through proactive engagement and provide a single point of contact and a holistic approach to their tax affairs.
	The following table shows the number of full-time equivalents (FTE) employed by HMRC in the HNWU and the unit's compliance yield in the last four years.
	
		
			  FTEs Compliance yield (£) 
			 2009-10 439.05 85,241,663 
			 2010-11 383.52 157,344,269 
			 2011-12 357.7 200,428,660 
			 2012-13 372.39 222,403,897

Tax Allowances: Video Games

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to tackle the concerns of the UK video gaming industry over delays in the decision by the European Commission on tax breaks for the industry.

David Gauke: The Government remains committed to introducing video games tax relief as soon as possible and has been working with the industry to provide the Commission with the evidence it needs to conclude its investigation quickly. It is not unusual for cutting edge state aid measures to be subject to close scrutiny, but the UK has a long history of working with the Commission to implement new and innovative forms of state aid successfully.

Training

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which Ministers in his Department have undertaken which training courses; and who provided each course at what cost since May 2010.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what training has been provided for Ministers in his Department since May 2010; and at what cost.

Nicky Morgan: Treasury Ministers have not undertaken any training in their ministerial capacities since May 2010.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to answer Questions 179068, 179045, 179031 and 179030, tabled by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood on 9 December 2013.

David Gauke: I have done so.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Absent Voting

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the answer of 10 February 2014, Official Report, column 411W, on Absent Voting, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the effect of the (a) transition from household to individual electoral registration and (b) proposed changes to handling postal ballot forms on the number of people receiving postal ballots.

Gary Streeter: The Commission will monitor the impact on the number of electors receiving postal ballots of the transition to individual electoral registration (IER) but has not made a pre-emptive assessment of this impact ahead of the start of the transition to IER in July 2014.
	The Commission has not made an assessment of the likely effect of its proposed changes to the handling of completed postal vote application forms and handling of ballot packs on the number of people receiving postal ballots. It will, however, be undertaking a consultation on these changes that will consider what additional steps Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers could take to help electors complete and return application forms and postal ballot packs to ensure that everyone who wants to cast their vote by post is able to.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2014, Official Report, column 621W, on electoral register, whether civic society groups, beside Bite the Ballot, have requested Electoral Commission help to register voters; and which such organisations were (a) given and (b) not given help, by the Electoral Commission.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it develops a range of resources to be used by any group or individual for the purposes of increasing voter registration without the need for such groups to make a formal application to the Commission for help and that it has not refused to provide these resources to any group or individual. These resources are freely available for download from the Commission's www.aboutmyvote.co.uk website and for this reason the Commission is not able to keep records of every organisation which it has helped in this way.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Bangladesh

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the progress of the Government of Bangladesh in appointing factory inspectors following the Rana Plaza building collapse.

Alan Duncan: DFID Bangladesh is working closely with development partners and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to monitor and encourage progress of the Government of Bangladesh in meeting their commitment to recruit an additional 200 factory inspectors.
	The Bangladesh Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments has been upgraded to a directorate, to give it more influence and resources, and 575 posts have been assigned as factory inspectors. There are now 135 inspectors in place and the Government is aiming to recruit an extra 200 by April. DFID is supporting the establishment of a transparent, credible and efficient inspectorate through funding to the ILO programme. The training programme for inspectors is in development and will begin in March.

Burma

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions her Department is having with the Government of Burma to reduce the risk of the census in March 2014 triggering communal violence and increasing ethnic tensions.

Alan Duncan: DFID officials have regular discussions with the Government of Burma. DFID officials sit on the National Advisory Committee, chaired by Government and that includes representatives from across Government Departments, and have successfully pushed for broader representation of ethnic groups on this national oversight body. During his visit in January the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire) raised the census with the Government of Burma and other interested parties.

Developing Countries: Overseas Investment

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the purpose was of the Memorandum of Cooperation with the London Stock Exchange Group signed on 27 January 2014; and if she will place a copy of that memorandum in the Library.

Justine Greening: Our strategic partnership with the London Stock Exchange will facilitate the development of local capital markets, which can help countries raise finance to drive growth and jobs. The Memorandum of Cooperation sets out our intent to work together to provide training on capital market development in sub-Saharan Africa, using the London Stock Exchange's world class expertise.
	I have placed a copy of the memorandum in the Library.

TRANSPORT

Electric Vehicles

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to increase the take-up of electric vehicles.

Robert Goodwill: The Government committed a £400 million to support the early market for ultra low emission vehicles to 2015 and has committed a further £500 million out to 2020. The UK currently has one of the most comprehensive support packages anywhere in the world with money off eligible vehicles, grants for chargepoints at home, on street and in train station car parks, and a growing network of super-fast rapid chargepoints which will be Europe's best by 2015. We also have a consistent set of tax incentives driving fleet and private purchasers towards ever cleaner cars and are revising Government buying standards to increase adoption within the public sector. We are now developing our proposals for the shape of our 2015-20 support package and analysing contributions from industry to our recent call for evidence. We aim to finalise a draft package of measures by the spring, before seeking state aid clearance from the European Commission.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps have been taken to facilitate the undertaking given by the Chief Secretary to the hon. Member for Eddisbury on 4 December 2013, Official Report, column 928, to secure an answer to the question asking where among the published documents on HS2 a comparison of the economic benefits of using double-decker carriages to relieve the problem of capacity on the West Coast Main Line as against the economic benefits of relieving capacity through HS2 can be found.

Robert Goodwill: The 2010 paper on strategic alternatives to HS2 (Rail Interventions Report) reviewed a long list of options for further study including running double-decker trains on the West Coast Main Line. Although double-decking could increase the capacity of each train, the option was not taken forward due to the significant expense and disruption it would cause, including the large infrastructure requirements to upgrade the Euston-Rugby section of the line and the other disadvantages of running double-decker services noted in the Network Rail feasibility study of 2007. Instead detailed consideration was given to increasing capacity on the West Coast Main Line through train lengthening.
	A copy of the Rail Interventions report is available at the following web link:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/alternativestudy/pdf/railintervention.pdf
	A copy of the Network Rail feasibility study is available at the following web link:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100513020716/http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/strategy/whitepapers/whitepapercm7176/railwhitepapersupportingdocs/provevalddtrains

Large Goods Vehicles

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 24 January 2014, Official Report, column 358W, on Large goods vehicles, when he expects the detailed OCRS report to be published.

Stephen Hammond: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) expect that Goods and Passenger vehicle operators, who have registered for on-line reports, will be able to request a detailed, bespoke Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) report for each of their operator's licences by the end of May 2014.

Motor Vehicles: Registration

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 28 November 2013, Official Report, column 406W, on vehicle number plates, what recent progress the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has made with the UK Border Force and the police on how data can be used to identify foreign registered vehicles that have been in the UK for longer than six months.

Stephen Hammond: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the police about a possible pilot exercise. This would involve the police linking their own intelligence along with DVLA data to target overstaying vehicles and take enforcement action. The DVLA and the UK Border Force are continuing to discuss the use of the UK Border Force's data.

Motorways: Repairs and Maintenance

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse of 12 September 2012, Official Report, column 244W, on motorways: repairs and maintenance, how many people repairing motorways were killed or injured by vehicles in (a) 2012 and (b) 2013.

Robert Goodwill: The table sets out the number of fatal and serious injuries caused by vehicles in incidents which have been recorded on the Motorway and Trunk Road network in England, operated and maintained on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport.
	These incidents are specifically related to vehicles driven by members of the public on the strategic road network that resulted in road worker injuries while they were carrying out maintenance and repair activities on behalf of the Highways Agency.
	
		
			  Fatal Serious Slight 
			 2012 0 2 5 
			 2013 0 7 13

Roads: Bedfordshire

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make an assessment of the risk of serious or fatal injury to powered two wheeler users of Bedfordshire Borough Council's proposal to include raised curbs between lanes in a turbo style roundabout scheme at the intersection of Union Street, Tavistock Street, Clapham Road and Roff Avenue in Bedfordshire; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Goodwill: Bedford borough council's turbo style roundabout scheme will be funded by the Department's Cycle Safety Fund. Bids for the Fund were assessed by a panel from the safety sub-group of the Department's Cycling Stakeholder Forum. We would expect bidders to have taken vulnerable road users into account in their schemes.
	Detailed design of cycling infrastructure, including the wider safety issues linked to new infrastructure, is the responsibility of local traffic authorities. DFT sets the legislative framework for the signs and markings used in cycle facilities, in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions. The Department also provides guidance on designing for cyclists in various documents, primarily Local Transport Note 2/08: Cycle Infrastructure Design. It is for local authorities to ensure that any infrastructure they install is safe and fit for purpose.
	The Department will meet with Bedford borough council shortly to discuss concerns raised by the Motorcycle Action Group.

HEALTH

Ambulance Services

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding his Department has allocated to each ambulance trust in England in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: The Department does not directly allocate funding to ambulance trusts. Primary care trusts (PCTs), whose funding was allocated by the Department, were historically responsible for commissioning ambulance services. From April 1 2013 this responsibility has transferred to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), whose funding is allocated by NHS England.
	It is for local commissioners to use the funding allocated to them to commission services to meet the health care needs of their local populations, taking account of local and national priorities. However, the Department expects CCGs to commission from providers who are best placed to provide high quality clinical services, and this is supported by detailed guidance from NHS England.

Ambulance Services

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what (a) measures and (b) indicators his Department uses to assess the performance levels of ambulance trusts in England;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of trends in call volume handled by each ambulance trust in England in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: There are three ambulance response time standards, which ambulance trusts are required to meet at trust level:
	75% of Category A 'Red 1' calls should be reached within eight minutes, from the time the call 'connects'. 'Red 1' calls are those patients in cardiac arrest or similar;
	75% of Category A 'Red 2' calls should be reached within eight minutes, from the time that either:
	(i) the chief complaint is identified;
	(ii) the call handler determines a priority response is required; or
	(iii) after 60 seconds has elapsed/whichever is the sooner.
	‘Red 2' calls are those patients such as strokes and fits, which are still life threatening emergencies but not as time critical as ‘Red 1' patients.
	95% of all Category A calls should receive an ‘ambulance capable of conveying the patient within 19 minutes' (The A19 performance measure).
	In December 2010, the Government announced a set of clinical quality indicators to measure the quality of care delivered in response to all calls made to the ambulance service. The Ambulance Clinical Quality Indicators, introduced on 1 April 2011, encompass a range of factors measuring both the quality of care delivered by ambulance services and the clinical outcomes of patients. The indicators aim to develop a culture of continuous improvement in emergency care. They ensure that response times are given importance but are not the sole focus. Performance against these standards has been improving.
	We recognise that there is increased demand across the urgent and emergency care system, including an increased volume of 999 calls to ambulances, particularly in Category A calls, and a rise in emergency journeys. Call volumes also show seasonal variation. NHS England publishes data monthly on the indicators. It is available here:
	www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/
	Further information is available in individual ambulance trust annual reports.
	The Department has rolled out the NHS 111 non-emergency number nationally to reduce the pressure on ambulance services. Over a million patients used NHS 111 in December 2013, showing that the service is becoming a core part of local urgent care systems.
	Given rising demand, we asked Sir Bruce Keogh (National Medical Director of NHS England) to undertake a review of urgent and emergency care. The review is aimed at delivering system wide change starting 2015-16—not just in accident and emergency and ambulances but across all health and care services in England by:
	concentrating specialist emergency care expertise, where appropriate; and
	ensuring that other services, such as primary and community care, are more responsive and delivered locally.
	The first phase of that review was published on 13 November 2013.

Avian Influenza

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to commission a vaccine for the H10N8 virus.

Jane Ellison: The current Public Health England's risk assessment for H10N8, is that this strain is very rare, sporadic and still restricted to China. Therefore, currently, we have no plans to commission a vaccine for the H10N8.

Avian Influenza

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to detect the H10N8 virus in the UK population.

Jane Ellison: The United Kingdom is one of the best prepared countries in the world for responding to threats such as avian and pandemic influenza. Public Health England (PHE) has produced clinical flowcharts and information on the PHE website to enable clinicians to identify potential cases of avian influenza, usually in travellers returning from affected areas of the world. Suspected cases will be investigated and samples taken for virological analysis. PHE. has a network of laboratories with the testing capability to recognise whether the virus is influenza A, and then to determine if this influenza A virus is a human seasonal strain, avian H7 or H5, or an unknown/unusual strain. Diagnostic capability for unknown/unusual influenza viruses is maintained at the national centre where any strain can be identified. These systems would allow for the early detection of emerging influenza viruses such as H10N8.

Cancer: Drugs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make representations to the European Commission on changing regulations that exempt pharmaceutical companies from testing cancer drugs on children on the grounds that the cancer the drug treats does not occur in children; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: The European Union Regulation on Paediatric Medicines 1901/2006 has been successful in achieving its goals to increase the number of medicines that are researched, developed and authorised for use in children. Under the Regulation companies must submit a paediatric investigation plan (PIP) for new medicines explaining how they will conduct studies in children. Companies receive an extension of patent protection or orphan drug exclusivity when a marketing authorisation for the product includes the results of these studies.
	The regulation does provide for exemptions to carry out a PIP if, for example, the adult condition does not occur in children. This means that companies cannot be legally compelled to develop paediatric medicines for different conditions than those occurring in adults. However companies may choose to submit a PIP on a voluntary basis and receive the same rewards for doing so. There are examples of this for cancer therapies.
	Medicines regulators are aware of the situation and work is ongoing to look at how to widen access to clinical trials for medicines to treat cancer in children. The Government is supportive of this work at European level. The lack of availability of medicines for paediatric cancers has been highlighted and identified as an area for future work in the European Commission's five-year progress report on the impact of the Paediatric Regulation, which was published on 8 July 2012.

Cancer: Drugs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pharmaceutical companies operating in the UK are engaged in developing drugs to treat cancer in children.

Norman Lamb: Clinical trials carried out in the United Kingdom need to be authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.. Information on their database indicates that currently there are 80 cancer trials open in the UK which include children (0-18) as subjects. These are being carried out by a total of 42 individual sponsors, 20 of which are classed as commercial sponsors (pharmaceutical companies) and 22 as non-commercial (eg academic and charity sponsors).
	There may be other drugs in development in the UK that have not yet reached clinical trial stage but data on these are not available.
	The European Medicines Agency publishes a list of opinions and decisions adopted on Paediatric Investigation Plans (which are aimed at ensuring the necessary data are obtained through studies in children to support the medicine's authorisation for use in children). The list can be accessed on the following link and it does not include information on where the development is taking place.
	www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages%2Fmedicines%2 Flanding%2Fpip_search.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac058001d129& search kwByEnter=false&alreadyLoaded=true8usNewQuery=true8t keyword=Enter+keywords&searchType=Invented+name&tax onomyPath=8ttreeNumber=&currentCategory=Oncology

Cancer: Drugs

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to allow access to Abraxane form of protein-bound paclitaxel through the Cancer Drug Fund.

Norman Lamb: NHS England is responsible for administering the Cancer Drugs Fund, and decisions on which treatments are afforded priority funding status are taken by an expert clinical panel. NHS England's Cancer Drugs Fund panel has considered including Abraxane (albumin bound paclitaxel) for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and advanced adenocarcinoma of the pancreas on the national list of Cancer Drugs Fund cohort policies. The panel decided not to include Abraxane for these indications on this list.
	For cancer drugs not on the national cohort policy list, local clinical panels can consider individual applications for funding in exceptional cases.

Cerebral Palsy: Children

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  for what reason NHS England has decided to stop funding selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery for children with cerebral palsy;
	(2)  if the Government will continue to fund selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery for children with cerebral palsy;
	(3)  if NHS England will provide funding for selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery to go ahead for children who have already had the surgery arranged.

Daniel Poulter: Since 1 April 2013, NHS England has been responsible for the direct commissioning of specialised services for children with cerebral palsy. This nationally consistent approach, informed by clinical experts, was drawn up to ensure that all patients could access the best clinical and cost-effective treatment for their care.
	Selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) is one of a range of treatments for children suffering with cerebral palsy. In accordance with guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, clinical experts at NHS England have determined that there is currently insufficient evidence of the relative clinical and cost-effectiveness of SDR for the procedure to be routinely commissioned.
	However, NHS England agreed to honour the arrangement for patients who were already listed for the procedure prior to 1 April 2013, if the patient's family decided to continue treatment following a full consideration of the facts.
	As further trials take place, NHS England's clinical experts will keep the policy under review. NHS England recognises that both patients and clinicians feel this is a promising area of research and it is committed to exploring this further through the new national Commissioning through Evaluation programme.
	In the meantime, in common with any treatment that is not routinely funded by NHS England, clinicians may submit individual funding requests to NHS England for consideration where they believe there are exceptional clinical grounds in an individual case.

Floods: Health Hazards

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of dangers to public health of (a) water-borne infections, (b) trauma and ill-effects to mental health and (c) hypothermia in areas suffering from flooding; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The lead responsibility for assessment of the health impacts of the recent flooding in England lies with Public Health England (PHE) and its partners including local government and the national health service.
	While floodwater from rivers and land is a known risk for the common bacterial gastrointestinal infections there are no high-risk enteric infectious diseases naturally endemic in the human population of the United Kingdom (e.g. cholera, typhoid), and the relative risks to people from bacterial contamination of floodwater is, therefore, low, especially if the public health advice being widely distributed is followed. Where there is any raw sewage entering floodwater, the diluting and dispersing of potential sources of infection further significantly reduces any risk.
	Nationally, PHE carries out active surveillance for outbreaks of infectious diseases, and related illnesses (gastrointestinal, skin, and respiratory) and is using this information on a day-to-day basis to monitor the health of the population in the areas affected by flooding. These data include statutory reporting of notifiable infectious diseases by all clinicians to PHE; statutory reporting of all significant infectious organisms detected in laboratories to PHE; and the monitoring undertaken by PHE's Real Time Syndromic Surveillance Team.
	Flooding can impact on people's mental health, and distress is a common reaction following a flood. However distress is usually temporary; most people are resilient and cope with being flooded despite being distressed by it. Only a minority of people are at risk of going on to develop further mental health problems. Most people's need for support is met by persons close to them. Good social support can protect against the negative mental health impacts of being flooded. Advice on protecting against the mental health effects of flooding from PHE is available on its website. PHE recommends that if a person's symptoms persist, they should visit their general practitioner (GP) who can help to identify further sources of support.
	Hypothermia is an exceedingly rare consequence of flooding and not a major public health concern in the UK. However, local multi-agency response teams are aware of the need to ensure that vulnerable people do receive any necessary additional care or support during events such as these.
	Departmental officials and Ministers remain in regular contact with PHE with regard to the public health aspects of the flooding.

Fractures

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking through NHS policy frameworks to ensure that clinical commissioning groups reliably and consistently commission secondary fracture prevention services.

Norman Lamb: The Department's Mandate to NHS England sets an objective for NHS England to make measurable improvement in helping people to recover from episodes of ill health or following injury. Alongside this, the NHS Outcomes Framework includes a specific indicator whereby the national health service has been set an objective to improve patient recovery from fragility fractures by measuring the proportion of patients recovering to their previous levels of mobility/walking ability at 30 and 120 days following injury. In addition to this indicator, the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcome Indicator Set also has a specific indicator, measured at clinical commissioning group (CCG) level, to improve recovery from fragility fractures including hip fracture, through a formal hip fracture programme, timely surgery, and multifactorial risk assessment.
	The responsibility for determining the overall national approach to improving clinical outcomes from health care services, including fracture liaison services (FLS), now lies with NHS England. FLS aim to reduce risks of further falls and fragility fractures in older patients. This preventative approach is beneficial to patients, reduces future hospital admissions and is cost effective for the NHS. NHS England supports the FLS model recommended by the International Osteoporosis Foundation and the National Osteoporosis society and recognises this model as best practice. However, NHS England advises that it is aware that provision of good FLS is not uniform across the country. NHS England is working with CCGs to support them to develop appropriate local services and services are steadily improving.
	NHS England also supports the "Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme" commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and delivered by the Royal College of Physicians. The audit supports the providers of services to improve outcomes and efficiency of care after hip fracture, helps to improve services in acute and primary care to respond to first fracture, and prevent second fracture through early intervention to restore independence.
	The latest report from the “National Hip Fracture Database” shows that care for hip fracture patients is improving with more patients receiving surgery within 48 hours of admission than in 2012, and almost all patients (94%) receive a falls assessment before being discharged from hospital. This report shows an improvement in the care for frail, older patients with broken hips.

General Practitioners

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many GPs per head of population were in practice in (a) Warrington, (b) the North West and (c) England in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Daniel Poulter: The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) General and Personal Medical Services Statistics show the number of general practitioners (GPs) per 100,000 registered patients at 30 September each year. The latest available statistics are as at 30 September 2012. The HSCIC will publish headcount numbers of GPs per 100,000 patients as at 30 September 2013 in the NHS annual workforce census in March 2014 and full-time equivalent figures will be available on request after that date.
	The number of headcount GPs per 100,000 registered patients in Warrington, the North West region and England is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 GPs (excluding retainers and registrars) per head of population in selected area as at 30 September 2012 
			   GPs (excluding retainers and registrars) headcount GPs (excluding retainers and registrars) headcount per 100,000 population 
			  England 35,527 66.9 
			     
			 Q31 North West Strategic Health Authority 4,801 67.7 
			 5J2 Warrington Primary Care Trust 134 66.1 
			 Note: Data as at 30 September 2012. Sources: The Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics Office for National Statistics; 2011 Mid-Year Population Estimates (2011 census based)

Health Services: Floods

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect on local NHS services of the floods; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: There have been no issues and no hospitals have been at risk of flooding. A number of general practitioner (GP) practices were affected by flooding but these all had business continuity plans in place. Throughout, local NHS service providers have worked with partner organisations, taking an active role and where possible to ensure disruption to the access to NHS services has been kept to a minimum.
	NHS England Area Teams and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have remained engaged in multi-agency arrangements for recovery, working with recovery co-ordination groups, where these have been established. The national health service has been represented at strategic co-ordination groups across England to ensure they play an active role in the identification of vulnerable people, including the use of NHS resources such as the hazardous area response teams who have worked alongside fire and rescue services.
	A key priority for health and social care services has been to make sure that vulnerable people affected by flooding continue to get the support they need and, at local level, there is support in place from the NHS and social services.

Health Services: Veterans

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect of educational initiatives to support GPs and allied healthcare professionals with measures to improve the health of veterans.

Daniel Poulter: Lord Ashcroft in his recent review on veterans' transition makes clear that that there is no shortage of support for those leaving the armed forces and most do well. That support is provided by Government agencies, national health service organisations, charities and the private sector, as well as the armed forces themselves.
	Working with the Royal College of General Practitioner's (RCGPs) the Department has developed an e-learning package for GPs. This provides advice/guidance for GPs on the health needs of members of the armed forces, their families and veterans, focusing on relevant aspects of both physical and mental health. The package has recently been updated and can be accessed by other than those who are registered with the RCGP. To the end of January 2014 there have been 1,248 unique users of the package.
	Health Education England (HEE), as the body responsible for education and training across the NHS and public health system, will play an important role in supporting health professionals to better understand the health needs of veterans. The Government expects to publish its mandate for HEE for 2014-15 next month which will outline further training and support for GPs in the care of veterans' health.

Heart Diseases

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) cardiac surgeons and (b) nurses have been appointed in the UK in the last 12 months.

Daniel Poulter: The Provisional NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) monthly workforce statistics, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, show the number of medical staff that have joined the cardio-thoracic surgery specialty, and the number of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff that have joined the national health service in England, between October 2012 and October 2013, which is the latest month for which data are available. The numbers are shown in the following table. It is not possible to identify nurses that work in the cardio-thoracic specialty. Numbers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved Administrations.
	
		
			 HCHS monthly workforce statistics: medical staff that have joined the cardio-thoracic surgery specialty, and qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff that have joined the NHS in England, between October 2012 and October 2013 
			  Numbers (headcount) 
			 Cardio-thoracic surgeons1,2 266 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff3 30,501 
			 1 Figures show staff with a specialty of cardio-thoracic surgery that appear on the Electronic Staff Record system (ESR) in October 2013 and do not appear on ESR in October 2012. Doctors in Training are included. 2 Data excludes locum doctors. 3 Figure provided is for all qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff. It is not possible to identify nurses that work solely within cardiac surgery. Notes: 1. Turnover data is based on headcount. 2. All figures show staff on ESR that have joined from outside the English NHS. 3. These statistics relate to the contracted positions within English NHS organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave. 4. These figures exclude data from two NHS trusts that are not on the ESR and Primary Care staff. Source. Health and Social Care Information Centre

HIV Infection and Hepatitis

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of positive cases of (a) HIV and (b) hepatitis C reported in 2013 among (i) people who had migrated to the UK within the last two years and (ii) people residing in the UK on visa.

Jane Ellison: The number of laboratory-confirmed new diagnoses of hepatitis C infection reported in England in 2012 was 10,873 cases. The number of new HIV diagnoses reported in England in 2012 was 6,364 cases. Figures for 2013 will be available later on in the year.
	Data on whether an individual with hepatitis C has recently migrated to the United Kingdom or is residing in the UK in possession of a visa is not collected as part of the ongoing surveillance of hepatitis C.
	Similarly, information on the residency or migration status of individuals with HIV is not collected as part of ongoing surveillance.

Hospitals

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness with which NHS trusts arrange appointments; and what information it holds on the extent of variation in practice between trusts in arranging appointments;
	(2)  what guidelines his Department has given to NHS trusts on (a) the system used to arrange appointments and (b) the length of time between appointments.

Jane Ellison: It is the responsibility of national health service hospital trusts locally to make effective arrangements for appointments and for progressing patients through care pathways. Most trusts make these clear through their local access policies.
	The Department does not issue guidelines or collect information about these arrangements. The length of time between appointments should take into account the health care needs of each patient.

Hospitals: Construction

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospitals he plans to build by 2015.

Daniel Poulter: Details of Government-funded construction projects as at December 2013, including hospitals and other health programmes, can be found via the Government Construction Pipeline website:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-construction-pipeline
	On the Government construction tab, by filtering columns A and B to Health Sector and NHS Sub-Sector respectively, Column U then shows the 'Current forecast date in service' including those programmes due to reach final construction phase in 2015.

Lung Diseases

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to promote research into a cure for lung diseases.

Daniel Poulter: Total expenditure by the Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on respiratory disease research has increased from £18.2 million in 2010-11 to £24.7 million in 2012-13.
	The NIHR is investing £21.6 million over five years in three respiratory biomedical research units. These units are based in leading national health service organisations and universities enabling some of the nation's best health researchers and clinicians to work together to develop new treatments for the benefit of patients with lung and other respiratory diseases.
	The NIHR is also investing £3.4 million over five years in respiratory research at the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre. This research aims to develop novel treatment strategies for the major respiratory diseases in the United Kingdom.
	The NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre manages the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme. With funding from the Medical Research Council, this programme is currently supporting a £3.3 million trial of repeated application of gene therapy in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Ministers' Private Offices

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the size, in square metres, of the offices assigned to each of his Department's Ministers is; and how many officials, at what grade, work in the private offices of each of his Department's Ministers.

Daniel Poulter: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			  Room sizes—square metres Grade  
			 Minister Minister's Rooms Private Offices Administrative Officer (AO) Executive Officer (EO) Higher Executive Officer (HEO) Fast Stream Grade 7 Secondees Senior Civil Servant (SCS) Band 1 Special Adviser Band 2 Staff-Grand Total 
			 Secretary of State (Mr Jeremy Hunt) 72 152 228 2.0 3.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 3.0 11.0 
			 Minister of State (Norman Lamb) 53 35 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 — — — 6.0 
		
	
	
		
			 Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Earl Howe) 56 30 1.0 2.0 2.0 — 1.0 — — — 6.0 
			 Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Dr Daniel Poulter) 57 58 1.0 2.0 2.0 — 1.0 — — — 6.0 
			 Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Jane Ellison) 55 54 1.0 2.0 2.0 — 1.0 — — — 6.0 
			 1 Private Office. 2 Special Advisers’ Office.

Mortality Rates

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to lower mortality rates in the Government's dedicated spearhead areas.

Jane Ellison: Reducing premature mortality is a priority for this Government, and we published “Living well for Longer: A call to action to reduce avoidable premature mortality” in March 2013. In addition, the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), asked Public Health England to launch the 'Longer Lives' website in June 2013, which publishes local authority level mortality data for the five big killers, arranged by deprivation centile.
	In the spring we will be publishing “Living Well for Longer: National Support for Local Action to Reduce Premature Avoidable Mortality”, which outlines our ambition to cut premature deaths from the five major causes and to make England among the best in Europe. We recognise that in order to make progress towards becoming the best in Europe we must focus our efforts on reducing inequalities in mortality rates.
	Spearhead areas, identified as local authority areas with the worst health and deprivation, were a specific focus for a number of public service agreement targets under the previous Administration. The public service agreement targets were abolished in 2010.
	The Government recognises the longstanding inequalities in access to services, in quality of care and in health outcomes for certain patients. Tackling health inequalities is underpinned by new legal duties, measurement and assessment.
	NHS England and each clinical commissioning group are under a legal duty to have regards to health inequalities in access to and outcomes from health services.

NHS England

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the (a) names of all members of NHS England's Clinical Priorities Advisory Group and Direct Commissioned Service Committee and (b) declaration of interests of all members of NHS England's Clinical Priorities Advisory Group and Direct Commissioned Service Committee.

Jane Ellison: The membership of NHS England's Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Name  
			 Sir Nick Partridge Chair 
			 Mike Bewick Vice Chair 
			 James Palmer Clinical Director Specialised Services 
			 Pia Clinton Tarestad Head of Specialised Commissioning 
			 Mike Bewick Deputy Medical Director, NHS England 
			 Martin McShane Keith Willet Domain Director—Medical Directorate, NHS England 
			 Vacant post CCG Accountable Officer 
			 Allison Streetly Representative from Public Health England 
			 Kate Davies Representative from Public Health Commissioning 
			 Kate Davies, represented by Andy Bacon Representative from Armed Forces Health 
			 Kate Davies, represented by Iain Brew Representative from Health and Justice 
			 David Geddes or representative Representative from Primary Care 
			 David Geddes or representative Representative from Secondary Dental Services 
			 Rachel Hardy National Finance lead for specialised services 
			 David Levey Regional Medical Director 
			 Catherine 0 Connell Regional Director of Commissioning 
			 Gill Harris Regional Director of Nursing 
			 Sally Brearley Linn Phipps Barry Silverman Madeline Wag Patient and Public Voice Members (4) 
			 Vacant post Health Economist 
			 Dr Lucy Frith Medical Ethicist 
		
	
	The membership of the Direct Commissioned Service Committee (DCSC) is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Name  
			 Professor Sir Malcolm Grant Chair 
			 Sir David Nicholson Chief Executive 
			 Dame Barbara Hakin Interim Operating Officer/Deputy Chief Executive 
			 Ann Sutton Director of Commissioning (Corporate) 
			 Paul Baumann Chief Financial Officer 
			 Jane Cummings Chief Nursing Officer 
			 Lord Victor Adebowale Non-Executive Director 
			 Rosamond Roughton Interim National Director: Commissioning Development 
			 Richard Barker Regional Director (North) 
			 Tim Kelsey National Director: Patients and Information 
			 Sir Bruce Keogh National Medical Director 
		
	
	NHS England has in place principles and procedures for managing and registering potential conflicts of interests, which are set out in the Standards of Business Conduct guidance, and is available on the NHS England's website:
	http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/stand-bus-cond.pdf
	NHS England requires members of all its committees to declare their interests, and any potential conflicts of interests are managed in accordance with the Standards of Business Conduct guidance.
	As the membership of the DCSC is formed of NHS England's board members, their interests have already been declared and are available on NHS England's website at:
	www.england.nhs.uk/about/reg-interests/
	At the beginning of each CPAG meeting all members are asked to declare their interests and any declarations made are recorded within the minutes of the meeting. NHS England will be publishing on its website the minutes from the CPAG meetings.

NHS England

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he will take to ensure that no people receiving fees from pharmaceutical companies are directly involved in NHS England's specialised commissioning services or sit on any NHS England committees.

Jane Ellison: Ongoing discussions with the wider health and social care system, patients, the public, industry and their representatives are essential for NHS England to inform its work, learn from best practice elsewhere, identify areas for improvement and encourage innovation.
	NHS England has in place principles and procedures for managing and registering potential conflicts of interests, which are set out in the Standards of Business Conduct guidance, and is available on the NHS England website:
	http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/stand-bus-cond.pdf
	Standards of business conduct apply to anyone working on NHS England's behalf as well as its own staff.
	NHS England does not require staff to record all meetings with outside bodies. However, any form of hospitality must be recorded in accordance with its published standards of business conduct, and a register of such hospitality is maintained.

NHS: Fees and Charges

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what fees (a) NHS England and (b) the NHS and NHS London paid to (i) the Specialised Healthcare Alliance and (ii) JMC Partners in the last three years; and for what work such fees were paid.

Jane Ellison: NHS England advises that is has not made payments to either the Specialised Healthcare Alliance (SHCA) or JMC Partners since its establishment as a statutory body in April 2013.
	The Department's Legacy Management team has confirmed that from 2010-12 London Strategic Health Authority paid the SHCA £1,162.50 for attendance at SHCA conferences and paid JMC Partners £29,375.00 for work supporting the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention programme.

Obesity

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent meetings his Department has had with Tier 2 providers on lifestyle weight management programmes.

Jane Ellison: The responsibility for supporting local commissioning of obesity services, including lifestyle weight management programmes transferred from the Department of Health to Public Health England (PHE) in April 2013.
	PHE has met with local authority commissioners and providers of lifestyle weight management programmes. Since April, this has included meetings with Weight Watchers, Slimming World, LighterLife, HENRY (child weight management services), Cambridge Weight Plan, Rotherham Institute for Obesity, More Life and Weight Wins.
	The Department of Health's Obesity Review Group which met most recently on 22 January 2014 includes membership representatives from weight management service providers.

Obesity

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) budget and (b) number of staff is assigned to work in the Obesity Project Team at Public Health England.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England's (PHE) obesity related workforce complements the Department's Obesity Policy team which has three full-time staff and local public health teams. PHE has approximately 12 full-time staff working on obesity from the following teams: obesity and healthy weight, obesity knowledge and intelligence and staff working on childhood obesity in the children, young people and families' team. The staff and programme budget for 2013-14, across these teams, to support the prevention and tackling of obesity, is approximately £1.5 million. In addition, the 2013-14 programme budget for the Change4Life campaign, which contributes to supporting families to make healthier dietary and activity choices is approximately £12.4 million.
	PHE delivers its programmes through teams working together across the life course and on specific subject areas. A range of teams make a significant contribution to the work on obesity including: Diet and Obesity; Children; Health Equity; Adults and Older People; and its Regional and Centre teams, who also support local public health teams to deliver action to prevent obesity.

Obesity

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the National Institute for Clinical Excellence will publish its updated guidance on obesity.

Norman Lamb: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued a clinical guideline on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children in December 2006.
	NICE is currently conducting a partial update of the clinical guideline. We understand that NICE expects to publish its final updated guidance in November 2014. Updates on progress are regularly published on NICE's website at:
	www.nice.org.uk

Plastic Surgery

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure safety of patients and high professional standards in the cosmetic surgery sector.

Daniel Poulter: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement given on 13 February 2014, Official Report, column 77WS.

Specialised Healthcare Alliance

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons stakeholder submissions to NHS England's stakeholder engagement programme for specialised services were not collected directly by NHS England but sent to the Specialised Healthcare Alliance.

Jane Ellison: As part of NHS England's process of engagement to support the development of its strategy for specialised commissioning, the Specialised Healthcare Alliance (SHCA) and Rare Disease UK were asked to provide administrative support for one of the 17 stakeholder engagements events to support the development of its strategy for specialised commissioning.
	This support involved receiving and collating the written responses, and recording the feedback from the event. This factual information was then used by NHS England to draft the "Stakeholder engagement report to inform the developing scope of the five-year strategy for specialised services 2014-15 — 2018-19", which was agreed in partnership with SHCA.
	A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.
	This report will feed into a draft strategy, which will be published and widely consulted on with all stakeholders. NHS England is planning to launch the consultation on the strategy in late spring with the aim of a final strategy being produced in July 2014.

Specialised Healthcare Alliance

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what meetings Ministers in his Department have had with the Specialised Healthcare Alliance in each of the last three years.

Jane Ellison: The detail of meetings held by Ministers in the Department is published regularly online, including information about the organisations that attended and the subject of the meeting. This information is updated regularly and can be found at the following link:
	www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings
	In addition to those published, the Department is aware of two recent ministerial meetings with the Specialised Healthcare Alliance both attended by my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Quality (Earl Howe). These took place on 15 January and 24 February this year, after the last published data.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Gender Recognition

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what progress has been made by her Department in implementing the commitments contained in the Government’s action plan for transgender equality; and if she will make a statement.

Helen Grant: Good progress has been made in delivering the commitments identified in “Advancing Transgender Equality: A Plan for Action”. A report on progress on the action plan will be published in due course.

Gender Recognition

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what guidance her Department has issued to other Departments on legal recognition for the purpose of official documents for those who do not associate with a particular gender.

Helen Grant: DCMS has not issued any specific guidance to other Departments on this matter.

CABINET OFFICE

Children: Corby

Andy Sawford: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent estimate he has made of the number of children living in households where one or both parents are (a) working part-time because they are unable to find full-time work and (b) employed on a zero-hours contract in Corby and East Northamptonshire.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Caron Walker
	On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent estimate has been made of the number of children living in households where one or both parents are (a) working part-time because they are unable to find full-time work and (b) employed on a zero-hours contract in Corby and East Northamptonshire constituency. (189426)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to compile statistics for people working in part-time jobs because they could not find a full time post from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). However, estimates of the number of children living in households where one or both parents are working part-time because they are unable to find full-time work for the requested geographies due to small sample sizes.
	Estimates relating to zero-hour contracts are also available from the LFS; however, full estimates of the total number of people in employment on such contracts are not available from this source. This is, in part, due to reporting error as respondents may fail to identify their type of employment contract correctly. Therefore we have not been able to state how many children are living in families where one or both parents are working on zero hour contracts in Corby and East Northamptonshire constituency.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Autism Act 2009

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to ensure that his Department complies with the Autism Act 2009.

Michael Penning: Under the Autism Strategy, led by the Department of Health, the Department for Work and Pensions had several commitments in relation to autism and employment. The Department is committed to ensuring that all disabled people, including those with autism, have the opportunities, chances and support that they need to get a job and remain in employment and there is a range of provision to help them.
	The Department published the disability and health employment strategy in December 2013 which outlines a more personalised and tailored approach to employment support for disabled people. A national network of specialist advisors will act as a matchmaker between individuals and employers ensuring that disabled people including people with autism make a smooth transition into work and receive adequate in-work support.
	In addition, the Disability Confident campaign launched in July 2013 by the Prime Minister is designed to help employers who are unsure about the benefits of employing disabled people.
	In Jobcentre Plus, all new staff to the role of disability employment advisers (DEA) are expected to undertake the DEA training, which includes training on Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Employment and Support Allowance

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  whether a person who has successfully appealed a decision to refuse them employment and support allowance (ESA) can only receive their ESA once the jobcentre has received the Statement of Reasons from the Tribunal Service;
	(2)  how many people wait more than (a) three and (b) six months to receive employment and support allowance following a successful tribunal appeal as a result of late receipt by a jobcentre of the Statement of Reasons from the tribunal.

Michael Penning: ESA is payable at the basic rate after a claimant appeals against the decision to terminate his entitlement to ESA. This continues to be paid until the appeal is heard. If the appeal is successful ESA plus the appropriate component will be paid and backdated to the date of the original decision.
	A Statement of Reasons is not required from the Tribunal in order for this increased award to be paid. It is paid once the tribunal's decision notice has been received.
	Last year we introduced a system to electronically transfer Decision Notices from the Tribunal to DWP, which increases the security and speed of notifying DWP of the Tribunal outcome. Payment of benefit arrears following the outcome of an appeal is treated as a matter of priority.

Employment and Support Allowance

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 3 February 2014, Official Report, column 96W, on employment and support allowance, if he will place in the Library a copy of the operational guidance on the termination of employment and support allowance.

Esther McVey: We will place a copy of the relevant sections of the operational guidance on the termination of employment and support in the Library.

Employment and Support Allowance

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 3 February 2014, Official Report, columns 95-6W, on employment and support allowance, if he will publish the contractual quality targets applied to Atos.

Michael Penning: Contractual quality targets applied to Atos are published and available to view in Deposited Papers (House of Lords) deposited on 14 September 2010—Deposit Reference—Dep 2010-1704.
	Quality targets are specifically referenced in Schedule 5 Appendix 1, Rows 20-26.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Glasgow

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of Jobseekers Allowance in postcodes G76, G46, G78, G77 and G44 have been sanctioned by his Department in the last five years; and for what reasons.

Esther McVey: The specific information requested by postcode is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 59W, on personal independence payment, how long the claimant journey was expected to take under the Lot 1 Contract with Atos; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Penning: I refer the hon. Member to the previous reply I gave to the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore), on 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 59W.

Smoking: Motor Vehicles

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of prosecutions investigated by the Health and Safety Executive for breaches of the ban on smoking in commercial and working vehicles since the introduction of that ban.

Michael Penning: The Health and Safety Executive is not the enforcement authority for smokefree legislation. The enforcement authorities are set out in the Smoke-free (Premises and Enforcement) Regulations 2006.
	http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/3368/contents/made

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what definition of disabled is used for the purposes of jobseeker's allowance and employment and support allowance sanctions statistics.

Esther McVey: The Equality Act 2010's definition of disability is that a person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. The information is self-reported by the claimant and recorded on the Labour Market System (LMS) and is used for the JSA and ESA sanctions decisions statistics.

Telephone Services

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when jobseekers will be able to speak to a benefit adviser in his Department without paying for a telephone call; and how this facility will be supported.

Esther McVey: The Department's current strategy is that calls to claim benefit should be free to a claimant so it uses 0800 free phone numbers for these calls.
	The Department will begin to introduce 0345 numbers during 2014 to run alongside its existing 0845 numbers. This will allow a caller to make an informed choice on the number to dial based on the terms of their call package.

Unemployment: Hartlepool

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the number and proportion of people over the age 55 who are unemployed in Hartlepool constituency; what change there has been in such figures in each of the last five years; and what steps he is taking to reduce such figures.

Esther McVey: The number of people aged 55 and over claiming jobseeker's allowance in Hartlepool has fallen by 8% over the last year. The proportion of claimants aged 55+ has risen slightly over the same period. Part of this rise can be accounted for by the gradual equalisation of state pension age, effective from April 2010, as this means more claimants retaining eligibility for JSA beyond the age of 60. In recent years the proportion of all JSA claimants in Hartlepool who are over 55 has been at or slightly below the national average.
	
		
			 JSA claimants in Hartlepool 
			  JSA claimants aged 55+ JSA claimants aged 55+ as a proportion of all JSA claimants 
			 As at January: Hartlepool Hartlepool (percentage) National average (percentage) 
			 2009 240 7 8 
		
	
	
		
			 2010 320 7 7 
			 2011 300 7 7 
			 2012 300 6 8 
			 2013 355 7 8 
			 2014 325 8 9 
		
	
	Every claimant is supported by their local Jobcentre to find work and Jobcentres have the freedom to innovate and develop approaches to help older people. Examples of approaches currently being used in some districts across the country include:
	Delivering customer focus groups for older people to ascertain their needs to help develop future provision for this group
	Providing dedicated advisers for claimants aged over 50
	Work Clubs for claimants aged over 50
	IT provision aimed specifically at older claimants
	In addition, DWP is developing an internal Good Practice Guide—'Creating Opportunities and Breaking Down Barriers' and taking steps to ensure advisers are able to meet the needs of older claimants.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the effect on a recipient of universal credit will be if they are also in receipt of widowed parents allowance.

Esther McVey: In universal credit widowed parent's allowance is taken into account in full.

Universal Credit

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the total costs and benefits of universal credit in each year to 2020.

Esther McVey: The universal credit programme was allocated a budget totalling £2 billion as part of the Department’s spending review 2010.
	Of the £2 billion budget, spend in 2011-12 was 5%, and in 2012-13 16%. Current forecast costs and benefits in 2013-14 is £192 million.
	Costs and benefits for future years are subject to ongoing programme planning.

Universal Credit

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written statement of 5 December 2013, Official Report, columns 65-6WS, on universal credit, whether the business plan for delivery of universal credit has been reviewed by the (a) Treasury and (b) Major Projects Authority.

Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave her on 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 65W.

Universal Credit

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  in what month the universal credit roll out will start accepting claims from families;
	(2)  in what month the universal credit roll out will start accepting claims from couples.

Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), on 5 December 2013, Official Report, column 65WS.
	The statement announced our plans to continue to expand our current live service and functionality so that from this summer we will progressively start to take new claims for universal credit for couples and, in the autumn, from families. Once it is safely tested in the live service areas we will also expand the roll out to cover more of the North West of England.

Universal Credit

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the timetable is for rollout of universal credit to (a) spring 2014, (b) the end of 2014 and (c) the end of 2015.

Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), on 10 July 2013, Official Report, column 22WS.
	The statement announced the initial expansion of the universal credit (UC) services. We said we would expand to a further six sites across England, Scotland and Wales by spring 2014. Having already gone live in Hammersmith, Rugby, Inverness, Harrogate and Bath, we are on track to complete that initial expansion when UC goes live in Shotton in April.
	Our plans for the next stage of implementation are set out in the written ministerial statement made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), on 5 December 2013, Official Report, column 65WS. The UC service will be fully available in each part of Great Britain during 2016, having closed down new claims to the legacy benefits it replaced; with a majority of the remaining legacy caseload moving to UC during 2016 and 2017. Final decisions on these elements of the programme will be informed by the development of the enhanced digital solution.

Work Capability Assessment: Barrow in Furness

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are awaiting a work capability assessment in Barrow and Furness constituency; and how many such people have been waiting in excess of three months for an assessment.

Michael Penning: The information requested is not available.

Work Programme: Barrow in Furness

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many residents of Barrow and Furness constituency, in each age group, have been enrolled on the Work Programme since that Programme's introduction;
	(2)  how many residents of Barrow and Furness constituency, in each age group, have found permanent employment after being enrolled in the Work Programme since that programme's introduction.

Esther McVey: The information we have on Work Programme referrals, attachments and job outcomes can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool
	Guidance for users is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

Work Programme: Barrow in Furness

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents of Barrow and Furness constituency, in each age group, have sanctioned under the Work Programme since that Programme's introduction.

Esther McVey: The available information on how many residents of Barrow and Furness constituency, in each age group, have been sanctioned for failure to participate in the Work programme since that programme's introduction is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Number of individuals sanctioned in Barrow and Furness parliamentary constituency by age band for failure to participate in the Work programme, June 2011 to September 2013 
			 Employment and support allowance and jobseeker’s allowance 
			 Age band Number 
			 Total 692 
			   
			 16 to 17 — 
			 18 to 24 299 
			 25 to 29 121 
			 30 to 34 68 
			 35 to 39 66 
			 40 to 44 61 
			 45 to 49 46 
			 50 to 54 34 
			 55 to 59 18 
			 60 and over — 
			 Unknown/missing age — 
			 ‘—’ Denotes nil or negligible. Notes: 1. Jobseeker's allowance (JSA) and employment and support allowance (ESA) figures have been randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data. 2. The number of benefit sanctions applied is the number of sanction or disallowance referrals where the decision was found against the individual. 3. Lone parents are not mandated to go on the WP but can volunteer. Their participation is voluntary and therefore they cannot be sanctioned. 4. Please note the figures for ESA include all adverse decisions for reason failure to participate in a work-related activity which will include the WP. The figures for WP cannot be separately identified. 5. New sanctions rules came into force for JSA from 22 October 2012. The number of sanctions applied is the number of low, intermediate, and high level referrals where the decision was found against the claimant. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jobseekers-allowance-overview-of-sanctions-rules 6. Where characteristics are introduced into the table, then the count of individuals will be a measure of individual people within each of the breakdowns included in the table e.g. where age only is selected, then the count within each age band measures the number of individual people within that age band across the whole period in which the sanction decisions data applies. 7. This information is published and available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Sources: 1. (JSA and ESA): DWP Information, Governance and Security Directorate: Sanctions and Disallowance Decisions Statistics Database. 2. (ISLP): DWP Income Support Computer System.

EDUCATION

Academies

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what investigation reports have been carried out by his Department or its agencies into irregularities at academies or free schools; to which schools they relate; and whether and on what date each report was published.

Edward Timpson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 13 February 2014, Official Report, column 813W.
	Since 13 February the Department for Education has also published online a redacted report into its investigation of financial irregularities at Glendene Arts Academy. The report is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/279902/Investigation_report_ Glendene_Arts_Academy.pdf

Academies

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much correspondence Ministers in his Department have received on admission complaints for academy schools in each year since 2010.

Edward Timpson: The Department for Education does not record whether general correspondence about admissions relates to academies or other types of school.

Academies: Lincolnshire

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education on what grounds Tollbar Academy in Grimsby received more funding than other local academies in the north Lincolnshire area; and on what basis the funding for those academies was calculated.

Edward Timpson: Tollbar Academy's revenue funding for academic year 2013/14 is higher than other academies in the area because they have a higher number of pupils, 2,168 in total, over double that of most of the other academies. Tollbar Academy has the lowest level of per pupil funding of all of the academies in the local authority area. The pre-16 revenue funding for all open academies, free schools and maintained schools is calculated using the local authority funding formula and for those with sixth forms their funding is calculated using the national funding formula.

Children: Cerebral Palsy

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what assessment has he made of the quality of the early years education support available for children diagnosed with cerebral palsy;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to encourage early intervention measures for children diagnosed with cerebral palsy;
	(3)  what recent discussions his Department has had on a training programme for education professionals working with children diagnosed with cerebral palsy;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the efficacy of the training materials available to assist education professionals supporting children and young people diagnosed with cerebral palsy;
	(5)  what provisions his Department has in place to support the parents of children and young people diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

Edward Timpson: The Government is seeking to improve early intervention and support services for parents of children with all kinds of special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities.
	The provisions in the Children and Families Bill place new duties on local authorities and clinical commissioning groups to commission services jointly; this will include services for children and young people with cerebral palsy. Local authorities will also have to produce a local offer of services for children and young people with SEN and disabilities. Together, these will ensure that the support available is planned more effectively and clearly set out, helping families and practitioners to get the interventions they need.
	The new SEN Code of Practice will emphasise the importance of early intervention. In early years settings practitioners must consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of development of each child in their care and whether a child may have SEN or disability which requires specialist support. In particular, providers must review children's progress between the ages of two and three. Where SEN or disability is identified practitioners should develop a targeted plan to support the child's future learning and development involving other professionals as appropriate.
	Where a statutory assessment of SEN shows an Education, Health and Care plan is needed, our reforms mean that parents will be fully involved in ensuring that all their child's needs are covered by the plan, so that there is a joined up approach to supporting the family.
	We provide funding to Early Support to support the implementation of the SEN reforms. As part of this, they worked with Scope to produce guidance to parents and others on cerebral palsy, which was published in 2012. This guidance can be found at
	http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/923252/earlysupportcerebral _palsy_final.pdf

Education: Assessments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to require exam boards to take account of (a) representations from the child's school and (b) previous schoolwork when assessing the special circumstances tariff they can apply in each particular situation.

Michael Gove: This is a matter for Glenys Stacey, the chief regulator of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, who will write to my hon. Friend. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

Equality

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many publications his Department has produced for the purposes of monitoring or promoting staff equality and diversity in each of the last five years; and what the cost of producing such publications was in each such year.

Michael Gove: The Department for Education produced a Diversity Strategy in 2008. It also uses intranet articles and internal documents to monitor and promote equality and diversity. These are produced by civil servants at no additional cost.

Parents: Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department spent on the CANParent voucher scheme in each year since that scheme's introduction; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the scheme in each of the next five years.

Michael Gove: The CANparent vouchers have been available to parents of children ages 0 to five in the trial areas of Camden, Middlesbrough and High Peak.
	From 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013, the total amount spent on the CANparent trial was £1,248,640. From 1 April 2013 to the end of January 2014, the total is £928,447.
	The Department of Health will take responsibility for the CANparent trial from 1 April 2014.

Parents: Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) whole families, (b) mothers and (c) fathers have used CANParent vouchers for each provider in each year since the introduction of the scheme.

Michael Gove: CANparent vouchers have been available to parents of children ages 0-5 in the three trial areas of Camden, Middlesbrough and High Peak.
	The latest data, at 11 February 2014, held by the contractor managing the CANparent trial, show that parenting class providers have confirmed a total of 1,832 women and 168 men have attended CANparent classes since the start of the trial. These totals are broken down by provider in the following table.
	
		
			 Provider Year 1 Year 2 Total Total 
			  Number of females Number of males Number of females Number of males Females Males 
			 Barnardo's 57 7 30 3 87 10 
			 City Lit 113 7 261 15 374 22 
			 Coram 21 3 0 0 21 3 
			 Derbyshire CC 21 4 8 2 29 6 
			 Family Links 115 5 56 3 171 8 
			 Family Lives 0 0 4 0 4 0 
			 Family Matters Institute 8 0 4 3 12 3 
			 FAST 163 8 95 16 258 24 
			 Fatherhood Institute 10 9 9 4 19 13 
			 Montessori 26 6 0 0 26 6 
			 NCT 36 7 62 11 98 18 
			 Parent Gym 172 5 78 7 250 12 
			 REF 188 16 182 12 370 28 
			 Solihull Approach 24 2 89 13 113 15 
			 Total 954 79 878 89 1,832 168 
			 Note: Reported class starters split by female/male, correct as at 11 February 2014.

Pre-school Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Gateshead of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 699W, on education: finance, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the annual funding for early education for (a) two and (b) three and four-year-olds which reaches providers.

Michael Gove: Funding for early education for two, three and four-year-olds forms part of the dedicated schools grant (DSG). DSG allocations for each local authority are available here:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/schoolsrevenuefunding
	The Department for Education collects funding information from all local authorities through section 251 financial returns, including information on funding for early years. These are collated and published on the DfE website. The 2013-14 local authority budget returns are published here:
	http://bit.ly/1fxmOiS
	Information on the funding that local authorities allocate to early years providers can be found in table 8 of the main tables.

Schools: Standards

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether state-funded schools use pupils' postcodes to determine individual pupils' target grades.

David Laws: Schools have the freedom to set their own targets for individual pupils based on their professional judgment. The Department for Education does not collect information about the methodology schools use to develop their pupils' target grades.

Special Educational Needs

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much funding was transferred from the Education Funding Agency (a) to each local authority and (b) in total to assist the education of young people with learning difficulties and disabilities aged between 16 and 25 in the current financial year.

Edward Timpson: The total post-16 high needs funding allocation to local authorities for the 2013-14 financial year was £272 million. The allocations at local authority level are available on the Department for Education's website at:
	http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/xls/t/dsg%202013%20 to%202014%20allocations.xls
	The total amount allocated to institutions for post-16 high needs students was £379 million. The 16 to 19 funding allocations for the 2013/14 academic year show place funding allocations made to institutions. They are available on the Department's website at:
	http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/xlsx/1/16-19%20ay2013-14%20published%20allocation%20dataset%201-2.xlsx
	Further information is available at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/executiveagencies/efa/funding/b00230545/16-to-19-funding-allocations/allocations-for-2013-to-2014

Special Educational Needs

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much each local authority spent on educating young people with learning difficulties and disabilities aged between 16 and 25 in the current financial year.

Edward Timpson: Local authorities are required to report actual expenditure on education through the annual Section 251 data collection. Data for financial year 2013-14 have not yet been submitted to the Department for Education. The data will be published in December 2014.

Teachers: Bureaucracy

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to publish the 2013 Teacher Workload survey.

David Laws: The Department for Education will publish the findings of the 2013 Teacher Workload Survey shortly, in accordance with the Cabinet Office's Government Social Research guidance.

Teachers: Surveys

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to publish the results of the teacher workload survey dated March 2013.

David Laws: The Department for Education will publish shortly the findings of the 2013 Teacher Workload Survey in accordance with the Cabinet Office's Government Social Research guidance.

Teachers: Surveys

George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he expects to publish the results of the Teacher Workload Survey for 2014.

David Laws: The Department for Education will publish shortly the findings of the 2013 Teacher Workload Survey in accordance with the Cabinet Office's Government Social Research guidance.

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Simon Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish an action plan to address the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Timpson: The UK Government is due to submit its five-year periodic review report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) this spring. The submission will set out the progress that has been made in implementing the UNCRC since the UK last reported in 2008.
	The UK Government will consider the benefits of producing an action plan in light of the UN Committee's recommendations arising from the periodic review. In the meantime, the Government remains committed to further strengthening implementation of the UNCRC, for example by implementing the significant changes provided for in the Children and Families Bill, currently awaiting Royal Assent.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Bovine Tuberculosis

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many herds in each county are classified as infected with bovine TB; and how many such herds were wrongly classified.

George Eustice: A copy of a table showing the figures for herds not officially TB free due to a bovine TB incident (non OTF herds) as at the end of September 2013, before and after corrections to the data, has been placed in the Library of the House.

Floods

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had on only declaring land to be of flood risk if it is prone to river as opposed to surface water flooding; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: The Environment Agency has been making information on the risk of flooding available to the public for a number of years.
	The first national map of flood risk was published online in 2000 and showed the areas at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea.
	The Environment Agency has been working with lead local flood authorities to gather information on the areas at risk of flooding from surface water. This was published as maps on the Environment Agency website in December 2013.

Floods: Insurance

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to monitor the treatment by insurance companies of policy holders whose homes have been flooded; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: The Government is working closely with the insurance industry to manage the response to this winter's flooding. Ministers held their first monthly meeting with insurance industry executives on 18 February. These meetings aim to ensure everything possible is being done to provide prompt and full payment to customers, and to ensure that Government and the industry are fully co-ordinated in helping flood victims.

Thames Flood Barrier

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of when the Thames Barrier will need to be (a) upgraded, (b) supplemented and (c) replaced.

Dan Rogerson: Based on current forecasts it is anticipated that the Thames Barrier will continue to provide protection against flood events in London and the Thames Estuary until 2070.
	The Environment Agency constantly assesses and appraises the condition of the Thames Barrier and its operating mechanisms, and upgrades and replaces these when required.
	In 2013-14 the Environment Agency invested £8.72 million to ensure the Thames Barrier continued to reduce the risk of flooding to 362,000 properties as well as critical infrastructure.
	Work to determine the most suitable approach to managing flood defence beyond 2070 is set to begin in 2050, at which point all possible improvements will be considered, including upgrading the existing Thames Barrier or replacing it completely.

Water Supply

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what advice he has received on the relative precedence of the provisions (a) enacted in the Government of Wales Act 2006 and (b) proposed in the Water Bill in respect of the right of the Secretary of State for Wales to intervene on issues of water supply to England; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: The Water Bill does not alter the devolution arrangements set out in the Government of Wales Act 2006.

DEFENCE

Burma

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 3 February 2014, Official Report, column 6, what recent discussions he has had with the Burmese army on that body's role in the Burmese Parliament.

Mark Francois: The Secretary of State for Defence met President Thein Sein on his visit to the UK in July 2013 and discussed a range of issues. Our Chief of Defence Staff also met the Commander in Chief of the Burmese Army during his visit to Burma last year. In addition, since the start of 2014, both the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire) and Her Majesty's Ambassador to Burma, accompanied by the Defence Attaché, have raised this subject during meetings with the Commander in Chief.

Navy

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the current manpower strength is of all naval personnel who are not Royal Marines.

Mark Francois: The strength of all naval manpower, not including Royal Marines, as at 1 January 2014 (the latest date for which figures are available) was:
	
		
			  Manpower strength 
			 Royal Navy Service Personnel1 229,620 
			   
			 UK Regular Forces3 25,560 
			 Of which:  
			 Trained 23,500 
			 Untrained 2,050 
			   
			 Volunteer Reserve4 21,960 
			 Of which:  
			 Trained 21,410 
			 Untrained 2550 
			   
			 Active Regular Reserve5 2320 
			   
			 Sponsored Reserve 1,780 
			 Of which:  
			 Royal Fleet Auxiliary6 1,550 
			 1 Royal Naval Service Personnel in this table comprises the Royal Navy, Royal Naval Reserve (RNR), Active Royal Fleet Reserve and the Royal Naval Reserve Sponsored Reserve. University Royal Naval Units, Royal Marines and Royal Marines Reserve (RMR) are excluded. 2 All figures for the Volunteer Reserve are provisional while Defence Statistics carries out further data validation exercises. 3 UK Regulars are full time Royal Navy personnel, including Nursing Services, but excluding Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel, and mobilised Reservists. Unless otherwise stated, includes trained and untrained personnel. 4 The Volunteer Reserve figures comprise the RNR but exclude the RMR. It includes mobilised RNR, High Readiness Reserve personnel and RNR personnel serving on FTRS or Additional Duties Commitments (ADC) contracts. 5 The Naval Service Regular Reserve is known as the Royal Fleet Reserve and usually comprises ex-Regular Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel who retain a liability to be called up for military service in times of need. The figures in this table exclude ex-Regular Royal Marines. The "active" component identified here comprises ex-Regular personnel who have applied to return to military service on FTRS or ADC contracts. 6 Although all of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary are employed as civilians, approximately 80% of them are also on sponsored reserve contracts and are shown here as a subset of the sponsored reserve. The Defence Statistics Quarterly Civilian Personnel Report publishes all of the RFA personnel, including those on sponsored reserve contracts, and will provide a breakdown by sponsored reserve status later in the year. Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Numbers ending in '5' have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. Source: Defence Statistics (Tri-Service)

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on the Watchkeeper Programme; when he expects the system to enter full service; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Francois: Further to the answer I gave on 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 102W, to the hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson), significant recent progress has been made on the Watchkeeper Programme to satisfy the regulatory authorities that the system will be safe to fly. This first of type Unmanned Air System should commence flying from Boscombe Down in Wiltshire in early March 2014. An initial Release to Service is expected to be authorised by the Chief of the General Staff to allow the first military flights by the Army from Boscombe Down from early April 2014.

Warships

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what surface combat ships are currently (a) in build and (b) on order.

Mark Francois: The Type 26 Global Combat Ship (T26 GCS) is expected to become the future surface combat vessel for the Royal Navy. The T26 GCS programme is currently in its assessment phase, and orders will be placed after the Ministry of Defence has taken the main investment decision later in 2014.
	In terms of the wider warship building, the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers are currently in build, and orders are planned to be placed for three offshore patrol vessels, subject to the successful conclusion of the commercial discussions with BAE Systems.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Household Energy Bills

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to help households with their energy bills.

Edward Davey: Energy bills are a real concern to households so we are helping them with energy bills in three ways-direct financial help, energy efficiency measures and increased competition.
	Direct financial help includes the warm home discount, the winter fuel allowance and cold weather payments.
	Energy efficiency measures are delivered in a variety of ways, but especially through the energy company obligation and the green deal.
	And our relentless focus on increasing competition ranges from Ofgem's retail market review to our focus on new suppliers and making switching quicker and easier.

Fuel Poverty: North-East England

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of the levels of fuel poverty in north-east England.

Gregory Barker: In 2011, the latest year for which statistics are available, 142,000 households, around 12% of all households in the north-east, were fuel poor in the north-east under the new low income high costs definition. This is still far too high, but represents a significant reduction on the 2009 figure of 169,000 households, around 15%, inherited by the coalition Government.
	Under the previous 10% definition of fuel poverty, the number has fallen from 24% in 2009 to 19% in 2011.

Energy Suppliers: Switching

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of customers switching energy supplier.

Edward Davey: In the last two months of last year, industry data published by Energy UK suggests 1 million electricity customers switched supplier.
	This upturn in the numbers switching energy supplier reverses a decline in switching caused by the end of doorstep selling which-while it had led to more switching-had also resulted in far too many examples of mis-selling.
	We think there is more that can be done to promote switching, and the beneficial effect on competition, and our efforts include our support for collective switching, our work with the industry to make switching quicker and easier and our help for more vulnerable customers who have switched less frequently, through initiatives such as the Big Energy Saving Network.

Fuel Poverty

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to protect the fuel poor while seeking to reduce energy bills.

Michael Fallon: In December 2013 the coalition announced a package of policy changes to save families an average of £50 off their bills.
	In 2013 the Energy Company Obligation made 290,000 low income vulnerable homes warmer and cheaper to run through insulation and heating improvements. We are proposing to extend the scheme to 2017 and broaden support available-making more low income areas eligible for support through the Carbon Saving Communities Obligation, and encouraging delivery to a wider range of homes including those off the gas grid.
	Additionally, this winter over 2 million households have received help under the Warm Home Discount. Government also makes winter fuel payments and cold weather payments.

Energy-intensive Industries

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with representatives of energy-intensive industries.

Michael Fallon: My ministerial colleagues and I regularly meet with representatives of energy intensive industries to discuss a range of issues. Together BIS and DECC continue to examine the issues that affect energy intensive industries and consider, along with Treasury, what can be done to address policy costs that affect the competitiveness of these vital foundation industries.

Climate Change

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with the Minister of State at the Cabinet Office about the effects of climate change on civil contingency provisions.

Gregory Barker: The Minister for Energy, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Michael Fallon), has engaged closely with the Minister for Government Policy, my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Mr Letwin), on the resilience of the energy supply sector to the impacts of climate change and to other risks.

Climate Change: Northern Ireland

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive on the effects of climate change on extreme weather events.

Gregory Barker: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has not had any recent discussions with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive on the effects of climate change on extreme weather events.

Energy Supply

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the annual energy statement, Official Report, column 1095, 31 October 2013, what recent discussions he has had with suppliers about 24-hour switching.

Michael Fallon: Following the annual energy statement on 31 October, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), held a meeting to discuss faster switching with suppliers, Ofgem, Energy UK and consumer groups on Monday 11 November.
	The discussions explored the challenges in moving to 24 hour switching and considered a staged approach.
	My officials continue to work with Ofgem and the industry. We expect that switching times will be halved within the lifetime of this Parliament.

Energy Supply

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the annual energy statement, 31 October 2013, Official Report, column 1095, when he expects 24-hour switching to be in place for all suppliers.

Michael Fallon: Moving to 24-hour switching will be a staged approach. We expect to see switching times halved within the lifetime of this Parliament. Ofgem is currently working with industry to facilitate a process and timetable to move to switching to 24-hour switching in a way that does not result in significant additional costs to consumers or a less reliable system.

Energy: Meters

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will seek to establish (a) how many households in Britain have a gas meter installed but receive no supply of gas to their property and (b) how many customers are subject to standing charges for such meters.

Michael Fallon: The most recent data the Department holds is for 2012 and from this we estimate that up to 326, 673 households in GB have a gas meter but consume no gas. The Department does not hold information as to how many of these households are subject to standing charges for such meters.
	The energy market regulator, Ofgem, is currently considering concerns raised about the fairness of some consumers having to pay a standing charge even though they do not use their gas supply, and therefore have zero consumption. It has issued a request for information to suppliers on the subject:
	https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/request-information-%E2%80%93-standing-charge-gas-customers-zero-consumption

Energy: Prices

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2014, Official Report, column 575W, on energy: prices, what estimate his Department has made of the number domestic customers on fixed-price deals.

Michael Fallon: The Department estimates that, as of quarter 3 of 2013, the latest data available, 18% of standard electricity customers (about 4.3 million) and 21% of gas customers (about 4.5 million) were on fixed-price deals.
	These figures are in tables 2.4.2 and 2.5.2 of the DECC publication Quarterly Energy Prices, which can be accessed online:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/quarterly-domestic-energy-price-stastics
	Estimates for quarter 4 of 2013 will be available on 27 March 2014.

Energy: Prices

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households have registered in each collective switching scheme supported by the Cheaper Energy Together fund; and how many such households have switched energy suppliers.

Michael Fallon: The following table shows how many households registered and how many switched in each collective switching scheme supported by the Cheaper Energy Together fund.
	
		
			  Number of consumers having provided their full details Number of consumers having switched/accepted the offer 
			 Total 190,575 21,641 
			 Isle of Wight Council 11,911 2,107 
			 People's Power 5,200 980 
		
	
	
		
			 Centre for Sustainable Energy 5,378 1,242 
			 Exeter City Council 2,461 324 
			 Eden Project 8,366 1,174 
			 Birmingham City Council 1,029 171 
			 Change works 4,773 525 
			 Community Energy Direct 6,133 618 
			 Nottingham City Council1 1,310 136 
			 Calderdale Council2 4,091 692 
			 Norwich City Council 2,711 354 
			 Sheffield City Council 8,120 709 
			 Broadland District Council 2,634 287 
			 East Riding Council 21,528 1,786 
			 Coventry City Council 2,955 163 
			 Cheshire East Council 3,804 301 
			 Woking Borough Council 11,102 1,043 
			 North Norfolk District Council 2,851 295 
			 Northumberland County Council 1,511 108 
			 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council 10,805 857 
			 South Tyneside Council 1,447 123 
			 Peterborough City Council 1,003 84 
			 Wiltshire Council3 1,203 72 
			 Oldham Council4 40,960 5,084 
			 London Borough of Tower Hamlets (part of Big London Switch) 698 73 
			 Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (Big London Switch)5 24,551 2,124 
			 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 2,040 209 
			 1 Nottingham provided an instant switching service and a collective switching service. These results are for both. 2 This data covers an auction in January and April. 3 This data covers an auction in April and June. 4 This data covers an auction in January and April. 5 This data covers an auction in April and June.

Energy: Prices

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department takes to (a) monitor the level of and (b) support (i) individual and (ii) collective switching of energy companies by customers.

Michael Fallon: Levels of individual switching are monitored through the switching statistics released in the DECC publication Quarterly Energy Prices. These figures are sourced from Ofgem and count switches between different suppliers. The latest available figures are for quarter 3 of 2013, and are available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/quarterly-domestic-energy-switching-statistics
	On support for individual switching, Ofgem’s Retail Market Review reforms provide all consumers with clearer tariff choices. We recognise vulnerable consumers may need extra help and advice to engage with the energy market and to give them the confidence to switch. DECC has recently announced a further £l million funding for the Big Energy Saving Network to continue this programme of consumer outreach led by around 500 specially trained energy advisers from voluntary organisations and community groups, into 2014-15.
	We have also announced plans to speed up the time it takes to switch energy supplier and we have recently taken a power in the Energy Act to require energy suppliers to provide key consumer data through QR codes on all energy bills, to help facilitate the development of smartphone or tablet applications which could make switching quicker and simpler.
	The Department has published data on the level of collective switching of energy companies by customers from collective switching schemes supported by Cheaper Energy Together, however we do not monitor this on an ongoing basis. The evaluation of Cheaper Energy Together is available at this link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/253862/Helping_Customers_Switch_Collective_ Switching_and_Beyond_final__2_.pdf
	DECC continues to support the development of new collective switching schemes that will help consumers get the best deal, for example, we recently published updated guidance for organisers of collective switching schemes.

Energy: Prices

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he has taken to investigate higher charges for non-direct debit domestic customers of energy utility companies.

Gregory Barker: Energy companies are required under the terms of their licence to ensure any differences in charges to consumers, between different payment methods, reflect the costs to the supplier that particular form of payment.
	Ofgem are looking at payment differentials, including higher charges for customers who choose not to pay by direct debit in the competition assessment, which will be published this spring.

Energy: Prices

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to help vulnerable people reduce their energy bills.

Michael Fallon: In December 2013 the coalition announced a package of policy changes to save families an average of £50 off their bills.
	In 2013 the Energy Company Obligation made 290,000 low income vulnerable homes warmer and cheaper to run through insulation and heating improvements. We are proposing to extend the scheme to 2017 and broaden support available-making more low income areas eligible for support through the Carbon Saving Communities Obligation, and encouraging delivery to a wider range of homes including those off the gas grid.
	Additionally, this winter over 2 million households have received help under the Warm Home Discount Government also makes winter fuel payments and cold weather payments.

Forests

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consultations he undertook before the announcement in December 2013 of the contribution by the Government of £75 million to the new Sustainable Forest Landscapes initiative of the World Bank's Biocarbon Fund; and what the outcome of those consultations was.

Gregory Barker: There were many discussions with stakeholders before the decision was taken to invest in the BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (the Fund).
	There were discussions between DECC and a significant number of expert stakeholders about the Fund. Some of these discussions happened in the wider context of whether to test so-called jurisdictional REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) approaches at scale. Many NGO stakeholders provided evidence that further multilateral investment was needed in forests. DECC also tested interest in the Fund with key private sector stakeholders. Several major companies expressed interest in working with the Fund to explore opportunities to move to more sustainable production. Unilever, Mondelez International and Bunge Environmental Markets announced their interest in participating and partnering with the Fund at the launch event in Warsaw.
	The Fund Manager, the World Bank, has also undertaken extensive consultation with businesses, governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to inform design of the Fund. They also convened over 30 agribusiness, bank, investment fund, commodity broker and retail business representatives for a workshop in May 2013 to assess their needs.

Nuclear Power Stations

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the carbon impact of new nuclear power plants as a result of (a) obtaining uranium, (b) processing uranium and (c) storing radioactive waste.

Michael Fallon: New nuclear power stations will form part of the UK's low-carbon energy mix and the level of carbon emissions from nuclear is low when compared with those from fossil fuels and comparable to those from renewable technologies. Life cycle analyses of the complete nuclear fuel cycle from uranium mining and processing to waste disposal are cited in the Nuclear White Paper and in the Regulatory Justification decisions on the EPR and AP1000 reactors, copies of which were placed in the Library of the House.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will make it his policy to extend the Warm Home Discount to include families where the parents are (a) unemployed and (b) have an annual income of less than £10,000.

Gregory Barker: Low income families are already included in the warm home discount scheme. Families, including where the parents are unemployed and have an annual income of less than £10,000, can access the scheme through their supplier under their broader group criteria. In winter 2012-13, over 500,000 households who qualified for the broader group received direct rebates of £130 off their electricity bills from their suppliers. Figures for winter 2013-14 will be available later in 2014.
	We will be consulting this year on changes to the scheme for 2015-16 and will include considerations of how to ease access to the scheme for households in or at risk of fuel poverty.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the effect on the size of the electorate of the removal from the electoral register of electors who fail to fill in the household registration form for two successive years.

Greg Clark: Electors are removed from the electoral register when the Electoral Registration Officer is satisfied that they are no longer resident at that address, or entitled to remain registered.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Diamond Jubilee 2012: Medals

Mike Thornton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who set the eligibility criteria for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal; and whether consideration was given to making it available to veterans.

Helen Grant: holding answer 26 February 2014
	The eligibility criteria for the Diamond Jubilee Medal were agreed across Government and received Royal Assent.
	As with the Golden Jubilee, the Diamond Jubilee medal was only to be issued to those who met the eligibility criteria and who were in service on and including 6 February 2012.

Equality

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many publications her Department has produced for the purposes of monitoring or promoting staff equality and diversity in each of the last five years; and what the cost of producing such publications was in each such year.

Helen Grant: holding answer 26 February 2014
	During the last five years DCMS has not produced any publications for the purposes of monitoring or promoting staff equality and diversity. Information on staff diversity under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 has been published annually on the Department's website and, more recently, on data.gov.uk. The most recent information can be found at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/237397/DCMS_Equality_Workforce _Data_2012-2013.csv/preview

Film: Ethnic Groups

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many feature films produced by ethnic minority film makers have been supported by BFI in the past year; and what proportion of total spending on feature film support such support was.

Edward Vaizey: In 2012-13 the British Film institute (BFI) funded six feature-length films written or directed by ethnic minority filmmakers, investing £3.31 million in production. This represents 22.5% of total production funding. A further £428,000 has been invested in the development of projects with black and minority ethnic talent during 2012-13. This represents 11.6% of total development funding.

Film: Ethnic Groups

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support her Department provides for ethnic minority film makers; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The Department provides support through the British Film Institute (BFI) Lottery Film Fund which supports film development, production and distribution for film makers from all backgrounds. The BFI also provides Lottery funding to its partner Film London, which champions emerging Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic film talent through its London Calling Plus shorts scheme. The BFI has set diversity targets for all its funded schemes and delivery partners.

Football: Insolvency

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals to reform the Football Association's rule on football credits in insolvency cases.

Helen Grant: holding answer 26 February 2014
	The Financial Fair Play rules now introduced across football which, combined with compliance checks that the FA and league administrators carry out on participating clubs, aim to improve financial management and stability across the leagues.
	Legislation remains an option if the football authorities do not demonstrate that they can reform their own governance of the game.
	The Government’s position on the football creditors rule is clear.

Ministers' Private Offices

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the size, in square metres, of the offices assigned to each of her Department's Ministers is; and how many officials, at what grade, work in the private offices of each of her Department's Ministers.

Helen Grant: The three Ministers offices are of the following sizes:
	49.5 square metres
	46.2 square metres
	46.2 square metres
	Breakdown of Minister's private offices by grade:
	Principle Private Secretary:
	1 x SCS
	Secretary of State:
	3 x Grade A
	1 x Grade C
	Minister for Sport, Tourism and Equalities:
	1 x Grade A
	2 x Grade B
	1 x Grade C
	Minister for Culture, Communication and Creative Industries:
	1 x Grade A
	1 x Grade B
	1 x Grade C
	Minister for Women and Equalities:
	1 x Grade B

Sports: Finance

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how UK Sport's commitment to equality of opportunity, as set out in its Equality and Diversity Strategy, is implemented in its funding decisions.

Helen Grant: holding answer 26 February 2014
	UK Sport funding decisions are based on its Investment Principles, which can be found on its website here:
	http://www.uksport.gov.uk/pages/investment-principles/
	All Olympic and Paralympic sports are given equal opportunity to make their case for investment either at the start of the Rio funding cycle (2013-17) or at each annual review point in line with UK Sport's Equality and Diversity Strategy.

Sports: Scholarships

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 5 February 2014, Official Report, column 303W, on sports: scholarships, when she expects a decision to be made on the funding of the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme after September 2014.

Helen Grant: holding answer 26 February 2014
	UK Sport and Sport England are working together on talent development in England and Sport England is due to discuss the future funding of TASS at its next board meeting.

Sports: Scholarships

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of the members of Team GB at the (a) London 2012 and (b) Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been supported by the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme.

Helen Grant: Team GB has the following number of TASS supported athletes competing in the Olympic and Paralympics:
	(a) London 2012—242 out of a total of 842 Team GB athletes—of which 44 athletes won medals, 10 were multi medallists with 57 medals won overall.
	(b) Sochi 2014—29 out of a total of 71 Team GB athletes—one athlete has won a medal, with the Paralympics still to take place.
	TASS supported athletes have won 79 Olympic and Paralympic medals since its inception to date.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Construction: Exports

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps he has taken to increase exports in the construction sector.

Michael Fallon: The Industrial Strategy for Construction was published in July 2013. It sets out high-level ambitions to be achieved by 2025, including a 50% reduction in the trade gap between total exports and total imports for construction products and materials. The strategy is owned and driven by a range of key bodies from across the full breadth of the construction industry, and is underpinned by an action plan.
	Progress to date includes the establishment of a G2G entity (a Government-owned private limited company, the British Intergovernment Services Authority, to manage government to government contracts) to provide this support to all sectors of industry including construction, and UK export finance services have been increased to provide further support to the sector. UKTI's High Value Opportunities programme supports UK businesses of all sizes to access large-scale overseas procurement projects. In addition construction companies can also benefit from a wide range of UKTI services including Trade Show Access Programme funding; Passport to Export; Gateway to Global Growth and tailored advice from international trade advisers.

Construction: Industry

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many meetings he has had with UK construction industry executives in each of the last three years.

Michael Fallon: As Minister of State for Business and Energy I regularly meet with representatives from across industry, including the construction sector.

Construction: Industry

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to increase innovation in the construction sector.

Michael Fallon: The Industrial Strategy for Construction, published in July 2013, identified a vision of where construction will be in 2025 including that the industry should be efficient and technologically advanced. To achieve this, the strategy included commitments (jointly owned by industry and government):
	to build the UK's competitive advantage in smart construction and digital design through the Digital Built Britain agenda; and
	to work with academic and research communities to bring forward more research, development and demonstration to the wider industry and work to remove barriers to innovation.
	Progress is being made, including holding two innovation workshops.
	In addition the Technology Strategy Board, in collaboration with Industrial Strategy for Construction, announced in September it is to invest £60 million over the next five years helping UK businesses revolutionise the way they approach building construction. The Low Impact Buildings Innovation Programme is expected to attract an additional £60 million of industry investment over this time, plus another £30 million funding from across government and other agencies, such as research councils.
	By encouraging innovations such as digital design and engineering, the funding will help the sector to reduce construction times, improve quality and make buildings more efficient.

Maternity Leave

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of civil servants in his Department who were on maternity leave in each of the last five years returned to work.

Jennifer Willott: BIS central records detailing the proportion of BIS civil servants who were on maternity leave, and returned to BIS, are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Returned to work in BIS (percentage) 
			 2009 96.43 
			 2010 90.79 
			 2011 90.20 
			 2012 95.56 
			 2013 97.83 
		
	
	We are unable to provide information on whether employees who went on maternity leave and did not return to work in BIS, were subsequently employed elsewhere.

Maternity Leave

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of civil servants in his Department who had been on maternity leave were still employed in the civil service (a) six and (b) 12 months after their return to work in each of the last five years.

Jennifer Willott: BIS central records detailing the proportion of BIS employees who had been on maternity leave and were still employed in BIS after six and nine months are shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Percentage 
			  Still employed after six months Still employed after 12 months 
			 2009 92.86 85.71 
			 2010 88.16 85.53 
			 2011 88.24 84.31 
			 2012 88.89 88.89 
			 2013 97.83 97.83 
		
	
	We are unable to provide information on whether employees who left BIS following maternity leave were subsequently employed elsewhere within the civil service.

Skills Funding Agency

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many colleges have satisfactorily submitted their student number returns as part of the Data Collections and Funding Transformation Programme to date.

Matthew Hancock: The latest data collection returns from colleges were submitted on 6 February 2014. All colleges are paid on a standard monthly profile during the year. Data submitted during the year by colleges is not used to calculate payments. College payments are reconciled at the end of each academic year. For 2013/14 this will be done on data submitted on 24 October 2014. The data verified in the returns received on 6 February confirmed:
	All 329 colleges (100%) successfully submitted files to the online data collections portal.
	301 colleges (91.5%) successfully submitted files through the new Data Collections and Funding Transformation system.

Skills Funding Agency

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much has been paid to each contractor for the delivery of the Data Collections and Funding Transformation Programme to date.

Matthew Hancock: Five contracts have been let to deliver and support the Data Collections and Funding Transformation Programme.
	1. DCFT Hosting
	Contract awarded to: Fordway Solutions Ltd under the G-Cloud Framework
	A two year contract for ‘Managed Infrastructure as Service' commenced on 27 March 2013
	Payments to date-£598,995 inc. VAT
	2. DCFT SI (Systems Integrator) Delivery
	Contract FSC2313 awarded to: Capgemini UK plc under the ‘Connect' ICT Services Agreement
	The work was delivered in full and a total payment made of £2,392,368 inc. VAT
	3. Data Collections and Funding Transformation-Application Development
	Contract FSC2312 awarded to Capgemini UK plc under the ‘Connect' ICT Services Agreement
	Capgemini sub-contracted with Trinity Experts Systems for delivery of the work.
	The work was delivered in full and a total payment made of £6,553,052 inc. VAT
	4. Data Collections and Funding Transformation-Application Development and Support
	Contract FSC2311 awarded to: Capgemini UK plc under the ‘Connect' ICT Services Agreement
	Capgemini sub-contracted with Amor Group for delivery of the work
	The work was delivered in full and a total payment made of £4,354,694 inc. VAT
	5. Data Collections and Funding Transformation-Application Management
	Contract FSC2480 awarded to: Capgemini UK plc under the ‘Connect' ICT Services Agreement
	Capgemini sub-contracted with Lockheed Martin for delivery of the work.
	Note-Lockheed Martin took over the Amor Group in September 2013.
	A 4 month contract for ‘Application Management' commenced on 1 November 2013
	Contract value £332,148 inc. VAT
	No payments have been made to date

Skills Funding Agency

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when the Data Collections and Funding Transformation Programme will be fully operational.

Matthew Hancock: The new Data Collection Funding Transformation systems are operational. The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) is dual running the new system alongside the online data collections portal that it is replacing. This parallel running ensures any risks moving to the new system are mitigated and allows time for providers to develop their knowledge and understanding of the new arrangements. All providers continue to be paid on time; and performance management is only undertaken on robust data. Any provider who is concerned about funding should contact their relationship manager with the SFA or the Education Funding Agency.

Skills Funding Agency

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the Skills Funding Agency budget is in each Core City per head of population.

Matthew Hancock: Overall funding for adult skills for further education learners aged 19+ in the 2013-14 financial year is £4.081 billion, which includes elements that do not form part of the Skills Funding Agency budget and is presented in the Skills Funding Statement 2013 to 2016:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-funding-statement-2013-to-2016
	FE funding is demand led and participation in local authorities is presented in the Data Annex of the document provided above.

Students: Loans

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications for Advanced Learning loans have been (a) made and (b) issued to date.

Matthew Hancock: Information on the number of 24+ Advanced Learning Loan applications received between 8 April 2013 and 31 December 2013 is published online:
	https://www.thedataservice.org.uk/Statistics/fe_data_library/other_statistics_and_research/24advancedlearningloans/
	Information on the number of learners participating in further education and skills with 24+Advanced Learning Loans in the first quarter of the 2013/14 academic year is published online:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/learner-participation-outcomes-and-level-of-highest-qualification-held